content
stringlengths 0
1.88M
| url
stringlengths 0
5.28k
|
|---|---|
Real talk post, about complaining because I get it. Life is not linear and every now and again it doesn’t work in our favor. It throws us a hill or even a mountain, we must keep on climbing and keep on going. You have two choices: sit and complain or do something to change it! Move forward, let it go, and forget about it.
When we are down because of some road block it’s difficult to set our mind’s free from this negativity. All we want to talk about with those close to us is why me, why me. The vent session typically is filled with negative complaints about why this situation is occurring. And then, we begin to over analyze, become paralyzed, and get into our own head.
It happens, now and again! It’s no fun.
Think about it, when was the last time you complained endlessly. Typically as a result, the negativity turns into a wild fire of unhappiness within your life. The endless negative emotions continue to manifest those negative feelings into a reality. It’s important to feel it and vent it out, but just as important to know when to move forward and how.
Understand the power of a complaint. It will cause paralysis, so discover different ways to refocus your mindset of the experience into a positive strength. Grow from it, become empowered, and move forward.
The Aftermath of a Complaint:
1. If our mind is obsessing with a complaint we weaken ourselves into this pattern. Complaining becomes habit and negatively impacts our happiness.
2. It’s a waste of time, choose to grow beyond this test. And the result, an essence of newfound strength. You are the only one who can truly alter this experience.
3. Those close to you will listen but there comes a time when they realize you are the one in control of your mindset and it is time for them to step back. I am sure you can understand this. And remember, it’s not that they don’t care but they have experiences going on within their life to. We are all in control of our own personal thoughts. Choose positivity & growth.
The Process of Growing:
- Be Accountable – Instead of playing the blame game learn and reflect on why it happened. How did you get to where you are now and how will you move forward. If you need to understand it on a deeper level, try writing it down. Highly recommend! Get out of your mind and put it on paper. Leverage upon the fact that you have the power to control your experience. We cannot control external events or anyone’s reaction but we can control our next move.
- Have Gratitude –Remember, life is not linear and you will be tested. The universe may have something else in line for your journey, be grateful because you never know where this experience will lead to. Something I find that is so simple & so beyond powerful is taking a moment each day to write down or type onto a sticky note, your gratitude. Acknowledge, the simple beauties around you. It can be so simple, ‘I am grateful for my health.’
- Discover Strength – Strength is being able to feel it out & move on. Grow and think about everything with a powerful mindset. Simple powerful thoughts, for example: My boss just fired me. Think, ‘well now there is a new opportunity that awaits me, a job I like even better.’ Or, my significant other cheated on me. Well yay now I am not in a relationship with someone that is not loyal and doesn’t deserve me.
Think back to the last time you continuously allowed negativity in your life? How long did it last? Was there any good that came from this. Personally, if I find myself complaining about a situation, it becomes a habit. It hinders my strength in going forward. Discover strength and a silver lining. Life is so good. | https://theempowerist.com/gratitude/complaining/ |
I remember trying Pozolé for the first in college after a night of binge drinking. My buddy Ben told me that Pozolé and Menudo were perfect soups to cure hangovers — kind of like Pho. We went to the Taqueria by our apartment and had a nice big bowl of Pozolé and… a Corona. It was very delicious! The Pozolé helped with the hangover, but that wasn’t the main reason why I liked it so much. I enjoyed the interesting texture of the hominy, tenderness of the pork and spiciness of the red chiles in the soup. It was just different from other soups I’ve tasted.
For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about the Pozolé I had in college and decided to make it since I don’t see it available at the Mexican Restaurants I go to. I researched a few recipes online and found that the Pozolé recipe from the Epicurious Website had all the flavors I wanted, but I added diced tomatoes for add more texture to the soup and enhance the flavor.
Ingredients:
3-4 pounds pork loin cut into bite-sized cubes
12 cups water
4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
5-6 cloves garlic sliced
1-2 teaspoons Mexican Oregano
2-3 tablespoons salt
2 cans (29 ounces) white hominy
2 cans (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 ounces dried New Mexico chiles
1/4 large white onion chopped1 1/2 cup boiling hot water
1 teaspoon salt
Steps:
- Rinse hominy over cold water and strain.
- Cut pork into bite sized cubes and slice garlic thinly and add to pot.
- Add 12 cups of water and 4 cups of chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Once soup boils for about 5 minutes, turn heat down to simmer. Skim the impurities and foam that floats to the top of the pot.
- Add crushed Mexican oregano, 1 tablespoon salt, and diced tomatoes to the pot and allow soup to simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.
- Remove stems from dried red chiles and transfer to a bowl.
- Pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water into bowl with dried red chiles and occasionally stirring for at least 30 minutes.
- Add re-hydrated red chiles, onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoons of salt, and water into blender and puree until smooth.
- After 1 1/2 hours, add hominy and red chile sauce to the pot and let simmer for another 30+ minutes. At this time, you can add more salt if desired.
- Serve with tortillas or tortilla chips and any other toppings/condiments you like. | https://nolimitcooking.com/2010/10/11/pozole/ |
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
This application is a national stage entry of International Application No. PCT/EP2018/056982, filed Mar. 20, 2018, entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus, methods and computer program to manage communication in a communication system.
BACKGROUND
A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities such as user terminals, base stations/access points and/or other nodes by providing carriers between the various entities involved in the communications path. A communication system can be provided for example by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. The communication sessions may comprise, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and/or content data and so on. Non-limiting examples of services provided comprise two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services and access to a data network system, such as the Internet. In a wireless communication system at least a part of a communication session between at least two stations occurs over a wireless link.
A user can access the communication system by means of an appropriate communication device or terminal. A communication device of a user is often referred to as user equipment (UE) or user device. A communication device is provided with an appropriate signal receiving and transmitting apparatus for enabling communications, for example enabling access to a communication network or communications directly with other users. The communication device may access a carrier provided by a station or access point, and transmit and/or receive communications on the carrier.
The communication system and associated devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which shall be used for the connection are also typically defined. One example of a communications system is UTRAN (3G radio). Another example of an architecture that is known as the long-term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology. Another example communication system is so called 5G radio or NR (new radio) access technology.
SUMMARY
According to an aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: use a first base station central unit coupled to a first base station distributed unit in dependence on a computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The computational capacity may be an available computational capacity.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by the user equipment, the base station central unit or the first base station distributed unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function).
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function and/or session management function).
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is lower than a threshold, determining that a multicast or broadcast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is greater than or equal to a threshold, determining that a unicast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: determine a computational complexity of a past session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit; and using the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational complexity of the past session flow set to predict an outcome of setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: compare the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational capacity of a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit; and determine whether to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit or the second base station central unit coupled to the second base station distributed unit in dependence on the comparing.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: report the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station distributed unit coupled to a second base station central unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: report the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a physical resource availability of the first base station distributed unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: determine a computational complexity of a service requested by a user equipment; and use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on the computational complexity of the service.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a measurement of a reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: configure a user equipment to measure the reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive from the first base station distributed unit the computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit for a service.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit to perform selection, reselection or hand over.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a session flow.
The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow.
According to an aspect there is provide an apparatus comprising means for: determining to use a first base station central unit coupled to a first base station distributed unit in dependence on a computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The computational capacity may be an available computational capacity.
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by the user equipment, the base station central unit or the first base station distributed unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function).
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function and/or session management function).
The apparatus may comprise means for: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is lower than a threshold, determining that a multicast or broadcast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The apparatus may comprise means for: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is greater than or equal to a threshold, determining that a unicast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining a computational complexity of a past session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit; and using the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational complexity of the past session flow set to predict an outcome of setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: comparing the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational capacity of a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit; and determining whether to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit or the second base station central unit coupled to the second base station distributed unit in dependence on the comparing.
The apparatus may comprise means for: reporting the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station distributed unit coupled to a second base station central unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: reporting the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a physical resource availability of the first base station distributed unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining a computational complexity of a service requested by a user equipment; and use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on the computational complexity of the service.
The apparatus may comprise means for: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a measurement of a reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: configuring a user equipment to measure the reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: receiving from the first base station distributed unit the computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The apparatus may comprise means for: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit for a service.
The apparatus may comprise means for: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit to perform selection, reselection or hand over.
The apparatus may comprise means for: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a session flow.
The apparatus may comprise means for: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow.
According to an aspect there is provided a method comprising: determining to use a first base station central unit coupled to a first base station distributed unit in dependence on a computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The computational capacity may be an available computational capacity.
The method may comprise: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by the user equipment, the base station central unit or the first base station distributed unit.
The method may comprise: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function).
The method may comprise: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function and/or session management function).
The method may comprise: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is lower than a threshold, determining that a multicast or broadcast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The method may comprise: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is greater than or equal to a threshold, determining that a unicast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The method may comprise: determining a computational complexity of a past session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit; and using the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational complexity of the past session flow set to predict an outcome of setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
The method may comprise: comparing the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational capacity of a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit; and determining whether to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit or the second base station central unit coupled to the second base station distributed unit in dependence on the comparing.
The method may comprise: reporting the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station distributed unit coupled to a second base station central unit.
The method may comprise: reporting the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit.
The method may comprise: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a physical resource availability of the first base station distributed unit.
The method may comprise: determining a computational complexity of a service requested by a user equipment; and use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on the computational complexity of the service.
The method may comprise: determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a measurement of a reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The method may comprise: configuring a user equipment to measure the reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The method may comprise: receiving from the first base station distributed unit the computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The method may comprise: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit for a service.
The method may comprise: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit to perform selection, reselection or hand over.
The method may comprise: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a session flow.
The method may comprise: sending a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow.
According to an aspect there is provided a computer program comprising computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to:
use a first base station central unit coupled to a first base station distributed unit in dependence on a computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The computational capacity may be an available computational capacity.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when performing at least one of selecting, reselecting and handing over of a user equipment to the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by the user equipment, the base station central unit or the first base station distributed unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function).
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
Determining to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit when setting up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit may be performed by a core network function (e.g. access management function and/or session management function).
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is lower than a threshold, determining that a multicast or broadcast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: if the computational capacity of the first base station central unit is greater than or equal to a threshold, determining that a unicast session flow is to be setup via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit without uplink feedback.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: determine a computational complexity of a past session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit; and using the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational complexity of the past session flow set to predict an outcome of setting up a session flow via the first base station central unit and the first base station distributed unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: compare the computational capacity of the first base station central unit and the computational capacity of a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit; and determine whether to use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit or the second base station central unit coupled to the second base station distributed unit in dependence on the comparing.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: report the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station distributed unit coupled to a second base station central unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: report the computational capacity of the first base station central unit to a second base station central unit coupled to a second base station distributed unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a physical resource availability of the first base station distributed unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: determine a computational complexity of a service requested by a user equipment; and use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on the computational complexity of the service.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: use the first base station central unit coupled to the first base station distributed unit in dependence on a measurement of a reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: configure a user equipment to measure the reference signal transmitted by the first base station distributed unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: receive from the first base station distributed unit the computational capacity of the first base station central unit.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit for a service.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit to perform selection, reselection or hand over.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a session flow.
The computer program may comprise computer executable code which when run on at least one processor is configured to: send a request to the first base station distributed unit to set up a unicast, multicast or broadcast session flow.
According to an aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing at least one of the above methods.
According to an aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing at least one of the above methods.
In the above, many different aspects have been described. It should be appreciated that further aspects may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the aspects described above.
Various other aspects are also described in the following detailed description and in the attached claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying Figures in which:
FIG. 1
shows a schematic representation of an example of an end user device according to an embodiment;
FIG. 2
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein radio access network functions are split in various radio access network devices;
FIG. 3
shows a schematic representation of an example of a central radio access network device, a distributed network device or a core network device according to an embodiment;
FIG. 4
shows a schematic representation of an example of a protocol layer stack of a base station according to an embodiment wherein radio access network functions are split between a central radio access network device and a distributed radio access network device;
FIG. 5
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein an end user device is at the boundary of distributed radio access network devices;
FIG. 6
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein an end user device determines to use a distributed radio access network device based on the computational capacity of a central radio access network device coupled thereto;
FIG. 7
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein a distributed or central radio access network device determines to use a distributed radio access network device based on the computational capacity of a central radio access network device coupled thereto;
FIG. 8
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein an end user device is at the boundary of various radio access network devices operating on different carriers;
FIG. 9
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein an end user device is connected to multiple distributed radio access network devices coupled to central radio access network devices;
FIG. 10
shows a schematic representation of a diagram of an example of a method according to an embodiment to establish session flows between an end user device and a data network via distributed and central radio access network devices;
FIG. 11
shows a schematic representation of a diagram of an example of a method according to an embodiment to establish session flows between an end user device and a data network via distributed and central radio access network devices;
FIG. 12
shows a schematic representation of a diagram of an example of a method according to an embodiment to manage mobility of an end user device;
FIG. 13
shows a schematic representation of a diagram of an example of a method according to an embodiment to route session flows of an end user device;
FIG. 14
shows a schematic representation of a diagram of an example of a method according to an embodiment to select types of session flows of an end user device; and
FIG. 15
shows a schematic representation of an example of a communication system according to an embodiment wherein the core network is configured to predict the output when setting up a session flow of an end user device via distributed and centralized radio access network devices.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
FIG. 1
In the following certain exemplifying embodiments are explained with reference to mobile communication devices capable of communication via a wireless cellular system and mobile communication systems serving such mobile communication devices. Before explaining in detail the exemplifying embodiments, certain general principles of a wireless communication system, access systems thereof, and mobile communication devices are briefly explained with reference to to assist in understanding the technology underlying the described examples.
20
FIG. 1
A communication device or terminal such as shown in can be provided wireless access via base stations or similar wireless transmitter and/or receiver nodes providing access points of a radio access system.
20
The communication device or user equipment (UE) may comprise any suitable device capable of at least receiving wireless communication of data. For example, the device can be handheld data processing device equipped with radio receiver, data processing and user interface apparatus. Non-limiting examples include a mobile station (MS) such as a mobile phone or what is known as a ‘smart phone’, an end user a portable computer such as a laptop or a tablet computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility, personal data assistant (PDA) provided with wireless communication capabilities, or any combinations of these or the like. Further examples include wearable wireless devices such as those integrated with watches or smart watches, eyewear, helmets, hats, clothing, ear pieces with wireless connectivity, jewelry and so on, universal serial bus (USB) sticks with wireless capabilities, modem data cards, machine type devices or any combinations of these or the like.
In the following it will be referred to a user equipment. However, it will be understood that the teachings are equally applicable to any of the above devices.
FIG. 1
20
20
26
28
25
29
27
24
22
shows a schematic, partially sectioned view of a possible communication device. More particularly, a handheld or otherwise mobile communication device (or user equipment UE) is shown. A mobile communication device is provided with wireless communication capabilities and appropriate electronic control apparatus for enabling operation thereof. Thus the communication device is shown being provided with at least one data processing entity , for example a central processing unit, a core processor and/or circuitry, at least one memory and other possible components such as additional processors and memories for use in software and hardware aided execution of tasks it is designed to perform. The data processing, storage and other relevant control apparatus can be provided on an appropriate circuit board and/or in chipsets. Data processing and memory functions provided by the control apparatus of the communication device are configured to cause control and signalling operations in accordance with certain embodiments as described later in this description. A user may control the operation of the communication device by means of a suitable user interface such as touch sensitive display screen or pad and/or a key pad, one of more actuator buttons , voice commands, combinations of these or the like. A speaker and a microphone are also typically provided. Furthermore, a mobile communication device may comprise appropriate connectors (either wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories, for example hands-free equipment, thereto.
FIG. 1
23
The communication device may communicate wirelessly via appropriate apparatus for receiving and transmitting signals. shows schematically a radio block connected to the control apparatus of the device. The radio block can comprise a radio part and associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be arranged internally or externally to the communication device. The antenna arrangement may comprise elements capable of beamforming operations.
The present disclosure relate to mobile communication networks where radio access network functions are split between a central radio access network device and a distributed radio access network device. For example, 5G radio access technology and LTE-A (Long term evolution-advanced) evolution have proposed splitting functions of a base station between a base station distributed unit (BS-DU) and a base station central unit (BS-CU).
Communication networks implementing coordinated multi-point (CoMP) techniques, radio access network load balancing techniques or other cooperative techniques often take into consideration backhaul capability (e.g. capacity of the backhaul or latency of the backhaul). A reason behind this is that in some systems radio access network functionalities may be at least partially distributed (e.g. 4G communication networks). Backhaul capability is relevant in such communication networks for example to manage mobility and handover procedures.
Backhaul capability becomes less relevant in communication networks with centralized and distributed radio access network functionalities (e.g. 5G communication networks). The decreasing relevance may be due to the possibility of implementing time-critical functionalities in the distributed radio access network function and non-time-critical functionalities in the centralized radio access network function. In such communication networks a virtual base station pool of processors may be used to perform the centralized radio access network functionalities. In some scenarios, this may mean that cells can be deployed in a cost efficient manner in the communication network.
The asymmetry of the relation between centralization of radio access network capabilities, backhaul load and the virtual base station pool of processors load may become relevant to manage mobility and cell (re-)selection procedures. Such asymmetry may for example need to be considered in the context of 5G with the cloud-based deployment considerations, the support for new verticals, use cases and/or services. Here new verticals may refer to use cases or deployments that are not traditionally supported using radio access networks—such as smart cities, automated factories, automated vehicles, massive internet of things (IoT), public safety or other which may be supported using the 5G/NR access network. The use cases and/or services that 5G may support may have varying computational complexity requirements. For example, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) may focus on providing higher bit rates to the end users, whereas delay sensitive services for factory automation and immersive content provisioning (such as virtual/augmented reality) may require higher computational complexity requirements at the base stations or in the edge cloud. The densification of base stations in 5G may enable multi-connectivity where a single UE is connected to two or more base stations for its communication needs.
In some scenarios, one factor with cloud-based deployments which may need to be taken into consideration may be the availability of computational capacity at the centralized servers where the virtual network functions for the base station processing are located. As compared to systems which are based on dedicated base station hardware, there may be a delinking between conventional considerations for physical resources (e.g. access/physical radio resources or spectrum, backhaul resources and/or the like) in terms of capacity, load and/or achievable latency and considerations for physical resources (e.g. cloud computational resources). The varying cloud computational load in neighbouring radio access network gigabit or next generation nodeBs (gNBs) may be transparent to the end user devices. This may enable different levels of service provisioning.
One or more embodiments may provide techniques to configure and enable mobility management and cell (re-)selection. In contrast to cell selection/re-selection where the availability of the physical resources in the radio access network is taken into account, some embodiments are such that the available computational capacity (e.g. load and/or achievable latency of processing resources) in cloud servers is taken into consideration.
It will be understood that although this disclosure refers to available computational capacity, the unavailable computation capacity and/or the overall computational capacity may alternatively or additionally be considered.
For mobility procedures where neighboring cells may be deployed in the same frequency bands, UEs may measure and report signal strengths and/or quality of the neighboring cells. The neighboring cells may advertise information relating to available computational capacity (averaged or real-time) using system information broadcast or master information broadcast. The available computational capacity may refer to an available amount of processing resources, an available latency of processing resources, available number of cores within a processor that could be used, an available speed of processing resources, an available throughput of processing resources and/or the like.
The neighboring cells may signal such information to the source cell or to other neighboring cells during handover upon requests from the source cell or the other neighboring cells. The neighboring cells may frequently exchange such information over a Xn interface enabling source cells to adapt mobility and load balancing (MLB) functions accordingly. In this way, the UEs may detect and report appropriate neighboring cells which could be potential handover target cells. It will be understood that in this disclosure handover may refer to handing off some or all session flows from a source cell to a target cell.
The MLB may include cell range extension for certain ‘attractive’ cells (i.e. expanding the coverage area of base station the central unit of which having the greatest available computational capacity). The available computational capacity may make handovers more efficient for the UEs. For example, a cell that is linked to a heavily loaded cloud server may optimize the MLB parameters in order to configure computationally intense devices to handover UEs to nearby cells that are coupled to less loaded cloud servers.
For inter-frequency mobility, the available computational capacity may be a parameter to initiate a measurement object with a UE to search for potentially target cells for handover. With configurable system information broadcast (SIB) in 5G, the network (e.g. gNB-CU) may disable such cell broadcast and discovery information in a gNB-DU when there is not enough available computational capacity available to serve users. Alternatively, in case of high-availability of available computational capacity, the network may configure SIB with a higher periodicity in order to increase the probability of cell detection and access.
For multi-connectivity (i.e. a UE has active session flows with two or more base stations), the selection of appropriate data radio bearers and/or quality of service flows may depend on the computational complexity of a service requested by a UE and computational resource availability.
One or more of the following embodiments may be applicable to initial cell selection and access instead of or as well as mobility and handover procedures.
FIG. 2
30
1
1
1
1
1
shows schematically a communication network . The communication network comprises a plurality of remote radio heads RRH- to RRH-N. The RRH- to RRH-N are configured to perform lower layer protocol functionalities. For example, the RRH- to RRH-N may be configured to perform lower physical (PHY) layer protocol functionalities. The RRH- to RRH-N are connected to a transport network via a backhaul. The RRH- to RRH-N may also be referred as base station distributed units (BS-DUs).
32
1
1
1
1
2
3
32
1
32
1
1
32
1
The communication network comprises a pool of virtual machines Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N. The Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N may be implemented within one or more physical equipment such as cloud servers. The Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N are configured to perform upper layer protocol functionalities. For example, the Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N may be configured to perform upper PHY layer, layer and layer protocol functionalities. The pool of virtual machines Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N is connected to the transport network. The pool of virtual machines Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N is coupled to the RRH- to RRH-N (i.e. each Virtual Machine-X may be associated with one or more respective RRH-X). The pool of virtual machines Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N may also be referred as a base station central unit (BS-CU).
30
34
1
30
36
36
The communication network comprises a core network connected to the pool of virtual machines Virtual Machine- to Virtual Machine-N. The communication network comprises one or more data networks connected to the core network. The data network may comprise one or more of an internet, a virtual private network (VPN), an internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), a machine to machine (M2M) server and the like.
FIG. 3
40
40
40
40
40
40
41
42
43
44
40
shows an example of a device . The device be a central radio access network device or BS-CU. The device may be a distributed radio access device or BS-DU. The device may be a core network device. The device can be arranged to provide control on access, mobility, load balance and/or session flow setup. For this purpose device comprises at least one memory , at least one data processing unit or processor , and an input/output interface . Via the interface the control apparatus can be coupled to relevant other components of the access point. The device can be configured to execute an appropriate software code to provide the control functions.
FIG. 4
shows a schematic representation of a protocol layer stack of a base station. The base station comprises a radio frequency (RF) layer, a physical (PHY) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and a radio resource control (RRC) layer.
In one embodiment, the RF layer, the PHY layer, the MAC layer and the RLC layer may be distributed in a BS-DU and the PDCP layer and the RRC layer may be centralized in a BS-CU.
In another embodiment, the RF layer, the PHY layer and the MAC layer may be distributed in a BS-DU and the RLC layer, the PDCP layer and the RRC layer may be centralized in a BS-CU.
In another embodiment, the RF layer and the PHY layer may be distributed in a BS-DU and the MAC layer, the RLC layer, the PDCP layer and the RRC layer may be centralized in a BS-CU.
In another embodiment, the RF layer may be distributed in a BS-DU and the PHY layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, the PDCP layer and the RRC layer may be centralized in a BS-CU.
It will be understood that a communication network may combine one or more of the above embodiments. A communication network may flexibly adopt one or more of the above embodiments depending on real-time network conditions and/or requirements.
FIG. 5
50
52
1
1
2
50
54
2
3
shows schematically a communication network comprising a first pool of virtual machines (i.e. Virtual Base Station Pool-) coupled to RRH- and RRH. The communication network comprises a second pool of virtual machines (Virtual Base Station Pool-) coupled to RRH- and RRH-N. The coupling may depend on the available transport network connectivity options.
56
2
3
56
2
3
2
3
A UE may be located at the boundary of both the RRH- and RRH-. For example, the UE is located within the coverage area of both the RRH- and RRH- and may potentially select, reselect and/or hand over to the RRH- or RRH-.
52
54
1
52
54
52
54
In a scenario, the first and second pool , of virtual machines have different available computational capacity. For example, the load of the processing resources of the first pool of virtual machines is greater (e.g. 100%) than the load of the processing resources of the second pool of virtual machines (e.g. 50%). This may be due to a variation of data processed by the RRH- to RRH-N to and from UEs connected thereto. It will be understood that the total and/or available computational capacity of the first and second pool , of virtual machines may be adjusted for example by adjusting the number of virtual machines of the first and second pool , of virtual machines.
56
2
3
2
3
In such scenario, the UE may select, reselect or hand over to the RRH- or RRH- based on the power and/or quality of a reference signal received from the RRH- and RRH-. Such considerations may work for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) where the criterion is better signal quality, enabling higher throughputs for the end users. But for specialized services such as ultra-reliable, low-latency communications (URLLC) and immersive content provisioning, the requirements from the access network may not be limited to the availability of physical access network resources or backhaul link capacity/load. It may also include service requirements and the ability of the cloud infrastructure to handle such requirements with acceptable levels of quality of service (QoS).
52
54
56
Accordingly, in such scenario it may be advantageous to also take the available computational capacity of first and second pools , of virtual machines into consideration to manage access and mobility. It may alternatively or additionally be advantageous to take the service requirement of the UE (e.g. in terms of edge caching and processing) into consideration to manage access and mobility
FIG. 6
60
60
62
1
64
2
66
1
68
2
shows schematically a communication network . The communication network comprises a first BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-) and a second BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-) respectively coupled to a first BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-) and a second BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-). The available computational capacity of the first BS-CU may be lower than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU.
69
62
64
62
64
62
64
69
62
64
69
62
64
A UE may be at the boundary of both the first BS-DU and the second BS-DU . The first BS-DU may be a source cell and the second BS-DU may be a target cell (e.g. the UE is already served by the first BS-DU). Alternatively, both the first BS-DU and the second BS-DU may be target cells (e.g. the UE is not served by the first BS-DU or the second BS-DU ) or source cells (e.g. the UE is served by both the first BS-DU or the second BS-DU ).
62
64
The first BS-DU and the second BS-DU may operate on the same carrier and/or on separate carriers.
66
62
68
64
66
68
66
68
In operation, the first BS-CU may determine its available computational capacity and may transmit its available computational capacity to the first BS-DU to be advertised. Likewise, the second BS-CU may determine its available computational capacity and may transmit its available computational capacity to the second BS-DU to be advertised. The available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and/or the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU may be advertised along with other radio parameters. For example, the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and/or the available computational capacity of second BS-CU may be advertised as part of a system information block (SIB) or a master information block (MIB).
69
66
68
The UE may receive the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and/or the second BS-CU .
69
66
62
64
69
62
64
66
68
In an embodiment, the UE may compare the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and the second BS-CU and may determine whether to select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU or the second BS-DU based thereon. For example, the UE may determine to select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU rather than the second BS-DU if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is greater than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU .
69
69
69
66
68
69
62
64
66
68
69
The UE may alternatively or additionally determine a quality of service, a computational complexity, and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic of a service requested by the UE . The UE may determine whether the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU or the second BS-CU is sufficient to meet the quality of service and/or a computational complexity. The UE may determine to select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU or the second BS-DU if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU or the second BS-CU is sufficient to meet the quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic of the service requested by the UE .
69
66
68
62
62
64
69
62
64
62
69
62
64
66
68
In another embodiment, the UE may report a result of the comparison between the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and the second BS-CU to the first BS-DU in a measurement report. The first BS-DU or second BS-DU may determine whether the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU or the second BS-DU based thereon. For example, the first BS-DU may determine that the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU rather than the second BS-DU if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is greater than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU .
62
69
62
66
62
69
62
66
The first BS-DU may determine a quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic of a service requested by the UE . The first BS-DU may determine whether the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is sufficient to meet the quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic. The first BS-DU may determine that the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is sufficient to meet the quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic.
69
68
62
62
69
62
64
62
69
62
64
66
66
In another embodiment, the UE may report the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU to the first BS-DU in a measurement report. The first BS-DU may determine whether the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU or the second BS-DU based thereon. For example, the first BS-DU may determine that the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU rather than the second BS-DU if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is greater than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU .
69
62
66
62
69
62
66
The first BS-DU may determine a quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic of a service requested by the UE . The first BS-DU may determine whether the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is sufficient to meet the quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic. The first BS-DU may determine that the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is sufficient to meet the quality of service, a computational complexity and/or other service parameter/metric/characteristic.
62
69
66
66
69
62
In another embodiment, the first BS-DU may forward the measurement report received from the UE to the first BS-CU and the first BS-CU may determine whether the UE should select, reselect or hand over to the first BS-DU .
62
69
62
62
62
64
64
In an embodiment, the measurement report received by the first BS-DU from the UE may comprise an identifier of the first BS-DU (e.g. cell ID) and a measurement of a reference signal transmitted by the first BS-DU (e.g. reference signal received power and/or a reference signal received quality). Likewise, the measurement report received by the first BS-DU from the UE may comprise an identifier of the second BS-DU (e.g. cell ID) and a measurement of a reference signal transmitted by the second BS-DU (e.g. absolute and/or relative value, reference signal received power and/or reference signal received quality). The measurement report may be transmitted in an uplink dedicated control channel (UP-DCCH).
A portion of computer program showing an example of a measurement report is reproduced below.
measresults-extX: measresults-extX ::= {
measResultCompCap-r1Y: MeasResultCompCap-r1Y ::= {
MeasResultCompCap-r1Y ::= {
measResultBestNeighCell-r1Y:
measResultBestNeighCell-r1Y ::=
{
physCellId-r1Y: 284
rsrpResultNCell-r1Y: 26
rsrqResultNCell-r1Y: 19
CompCapResultNCell-r1Y:
19
}
}
}
}
In this example, the physical cell identifier of a best neighbouring cell is ‘284’, the reference signal received power for the best neighbouring cell is ‘26’, the reference signal received quality for the best neighbouring cell is ‘19’ and the result of the comparison between the available computation capacity of a serving cell and the available computation capacity of the best neighbouring cell is ‘19’.
It will be understood that the measurement report may take other suitable forms.
60
It will be understood that the communication network may combine one or more of the above embodiments.
In other words, in a communication network with centralized and distributed base station functions, the base stations may advertise their available computational capacity along with other radio parameters. The UE, upon receiving the information, may determine whether the advertised capacity is sufficient for serving the UE. Alternatively or additionally, the UE may use a measurement report to signal the total and/or available computational capacity of a target cell along with the signal strength and other information to the source cell. Based on the measurement report, the source cell may determine whether to initiate handover based on the requirements of the active service flows for the UE. Similar parameterization could be also used for cell selection and access, in order to determine the appropriate cell for connectivity.
FIG. 7
70
72
1
3
76
70
74
4
6
78
shows schematically a communication network comprising first BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU- to gNB-DU-) coupled to a first BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-a). The communication network also comprises second BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU- to gNB-DU-) coupled to a second BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-b).
72
1
2
3
74
5
4
6
76
78
Some of the first BS-DUs may be wider area BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU-) whilst others may be smaller area BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU- and gNB-DU-). Likewise, some of the second BS-DUs may be wider area BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU-) whilst others may be smaller area BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU- and gNB-DU-). The available computational capacity of the first BS-CU may be lower than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU .
76
78
79
79
The first BS-CU and the second BS-CU have different levels of computational loads. The difference may be due to the UEs distribution and related radio resource utilization. The difference may also be due to the computational complexity for serving a quality of service of a service requested by the UEs .
72
78
79
74
74
72
72
72
In one embodiment, one of the first BS-DUs may receive (e.g. periodically or in response to an event) the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU , a radio resource utilization and/or a computational complexity for serving a a quality of service of a service requested by a UE from a second BS-DU . The second BS-DU may be a neighbouring second BS-DU, a second BS-DU causing interference to the first BS-DU and/or a second BS-DU undergoing interference from the first BS-DU . The first BS-DU may then manage access, mobility and/or load balance based thereon. That is, access, mobility and load balance may be managed in a distributed manner.
76
78
79
74
78
In another embodiment, the first BS-CU may receive the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU , a radio resource utilization and/or a computational complexity for serving a quality of service of a service requested by a UE from a second BS-DU . The first BS-CU may then manage access, mobility and load balance based thereon. That is, access, mobility and load balance may be managed in a centralised manner.
76
72
74
The first BS-CU may also receive feedback from the first BS-DUs and/or the second BS-DUs to optimize access, mobility and load balance for the overall network and provide the best performance.
FIG. 8
80
82
1
2
84
3
86
88
82
1
82
2
84
3
86
88
shows schematically a communication network comprising first BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU- and gNB-DU-) and a second BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-) respectively coupled to a first BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-a) and a second BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-b). Some of the first BS-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU-) may be wider coverage area BS-DUs whereas others (e.g. gNB-DU-) may be smaller coverage area BS-DUs. Likewise, some of the second BS-DUs may be wider coverage area BS-DUs whereas others (e.g. gNB-DU-) may be smaller coverage area BS-DUs. The available computational capacity of the first BS-CU may be lower than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU .
89
82
2
84
3
82
84
82
A UE may be located at the boundary of a first BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-) and a second BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-). Here, the first BS-DU and the second BS-DU may operate one separate carriers (e.g. carrier a and carrier b). The first BS-DU may be a source cell and the second BS-DU may be a target cell.
82
89
84
88
86
82
89
86
88
86
88
82
89
86
88
82
89
In an embodiment, the first BS-DU may configure the UE to measure carrier b in order to increase the probability to discover a second BS-DU coupled to the second BS-CU (which has a greater available computational capacity than the first BS-CU ). More specifically, the first BS-DU may configure the UE to measure carrier b based on a comparison between the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU . For example, if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is greater than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU the first BS-DU may not configure the UE to measure carrier b to save power. By contrast, if the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU is lower than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU the first BS-DU may not configure the UE to measure carrier b to ensure that the service requested by the UE may be served in the best possible manner.
FIG. 9
90
92
1
94
2
96
1
98
2
96
98
shows schematically a communication network comprising a first BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-) and a second BS-DU (e.g. gNB-DU-) respectively coupled to a first BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-) and a second BS-CU (e.g. gNB-CU-). The available computational capacity of the first BS-CU may be lower than the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU .
90
The communication network comprises a core network. The core network may comprise a user plane function (UPF), an access and mobility management function (AMF) and a session management function (SMF).
99
92
96
94
98
96
98
90
The AMF may be configured to set up a session flow between the UE and a data network via the first BS-DU coupled to the first BS-CU or via the second BS-DU coupled to the second BS-CU based on the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU . The data network may comprise an ultra-reliable low-latency communication data network (URLLC DN) and an enhanced mobile broadband data network (eMBB DN). It will be understood that the communication network may comprise other data networks.
99
The UE may be subscribe to both (1) a high-priority, high-computational complexity ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) service and (2) a low-priority, low-computational complexity extreme mobile broadband (eMBB) service. The UE may have multi-connectivity with the first BS-DU and the second BS-DU.
99
99
96
98
96
99
92
96
98
99
94
98
96
98
The AMF may set up a session flow between the UE and the URLLC DN and another session flow between the UE and the eMBB DN based on the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU and the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU . For example, the first BS-CU may have a higher available computational capacity and therefore may be suitable for serving a URLLC flow. Thus, the AMF may set up a session flow between the UE and the URLLC DN via the first BS-DU and the first BS-CU . Likewise, the second BS-CU may have a lower available computational capacity but may still be able to handle an eMBB session flow. Thus, the AMF may set up a session flow between the UE and the eMBB DN via the second BS-DU and the second BS-CU . To allow this, specific signalling may be exchanged between the AMF, the first BS-CU and the second BS-CU .
FIG. 10
shows schematically a diagram of a method performed by the AMF. It will be understood the method could alternatively or additionally be performed by another function in the core network.
In this embodiment, the AMF may proactively map session flows that require higher computational load to appropriate BS-CUs that can handle such loads. The enhanced radio access network configuration update procedure (as defined in TS 38.413) may be incorporated by reference. In this embodiment, new generation access point (NG-AP) messages (as defined in TS 38.413) may be/modified to support information elements (IEs) to exchange available computational capacity information either periodically and/or based on configured events (e.g. load below/above certain limit). Based on this information being available at the AMF, appropriate flows may be setup using appropriate BS-CUs using a packet data unit PDU session resource setup procedure.
100
96
96
96
98
In step , the AMF receives a radio access network configuration update from the first BS-CU comprising an available computational capacity of the first BS-CU . Likewise, the AMF receives a configuration update from the first BS-CU comprising an available computational capacity of the second BS-CU . The reception may be periodical or event based.
102
96
98
In step , the AMF transmits a radio access network configuration update acknowledgement to the first BS-CU . Likewise, the AMF transmits a radio access network configuration update acknowledgement to the second BS-CU .
103
In step , the AMF triggers a new session setup. For example, the AMF triggers a URLLC session flow and an eMBB session flow.
104
96
99
92
96
98
99
94
98
In step , the AMF determines that the first BS-CU has a higher available computational capacity and therefore may be ideal for serving the URLLC flow. Thus, the AMF may set up a session flow between the UE and the URLLC DN via the first BS-DU and the first BS-CU . Likewise, the AMF determines that the second BS-CU may have a lower available computational capacity but may still be able to handle an eMBB session flow. Thus, the AMF may set up the session flow between the UE and the eMBB DN via the second BS-DU and the second BS-CU .
105
96
98
In step , the AMF receives a PDU session resource setup response from the first BS-CU . Likewise, the AMF receives a PDU session resource setup response from the second BS-CU .
FIG. 11
shows schematically a diagram of a method performed by the AMF. It will be understood the method may be performed by another function of the core network.
In this embodiment, the AMF may reactively map flows that require higher computational load to appropriate BS-CUs based on the response received from the BS-CUs in prior PDU resource setup procedures. In this embodiment, the AMF may create a per BS-CU state machine to keep track of past PDU session resource setup procedure responses to reactively allocate new session flows to appropriate BS-CUs. This embodiment may also require information elements in the PDU session resource setup response to indicate the reason for rejecting the request which may include lack of available computational capacity.
200
96
96
104
98
98
In step , the AMF transmits a PDU session resource setup request considering the available computational capacity of the first BS-CU to the first BS-CU (e.g. as described in step ). Likewise, the AMF transmits a PDU session resource setup request considering the available computational capacity of the second BS-CU to the second BS-CU .
202
96
105
98
In step , the AMF receives a PDU session resource setup response from the first BS-CU (e.g. as described in step ). Likewise, the AMF receives a PDU session resource setup response from the second BS-CU . Each PDU session resource setup response may comprise a cause value providing reasons for accepting or rejecting the request (e.g. a lack of available computational capacity).
204
96
98
In step , the AMF stores the PDU session resource setup response from the first BS-CU and the second BS-CU with appropriate cause values.
206
In step , the AMF triggers a new session setup. For example, the AMF triggers a URLLC session flow and an eMBB session flow.
208
96
204
99
92
96
In step , the AMF may determine that the first BS-CU has a higher available computational capacity based on the PDU session resource setup response stored in step and therefore may be suitable for serving the URLLC flow. Thus, the AMF may set up a session flow between the UE and the URLLC DN via the first BS-DU and the first BS-CU .
98
204
99
94
98
Likewise, the AMF may determine that the second BS-CU may have a lower available computational capacity based on the PDU session resource setup response stored in step but may still be able to handle an eMBB session flow. Thus, the AMF may setup the session flow between the UE and the eMBB DN via the second BS-DU and the second BS-CU .
FIG. 12
shows schematically a diagram of a method performed in a communication network according to an embodiment.
In this embodiment, due to the uncorrelated behaviour of the available computational capacity of the BS-CU and radio resources of the BS-DU, the available computational capacity of the BS-CU may have priority when managing mobility. The network deployment considers potential diversity in terms of the available BS-CUs for a BS-DU. There may also be BS-CU relocation in the event that a BS-CU does not have available computational capacity but a BS-DU coupled to the BS-CU has available radio resources. The UE measurement, mobility behaviour and/or the cell discovery behaviour may be configured depending on the available computational capacity BS-CU to process user data traffic.
300
1
302
In step , a BS-CU configures a BS-DU coupled thereto to advertise the available computational capacity of the BS-CU. The BS-CU may use F interface signalling enhancements and/or other suitable signalling. The method goes to step .
302
304
306
In step , the BS-DU determines whether the BS-CU has available computational capacity to serve UEs. If the BS-CU has available computational capacity to serve UEs the method goes to step . If the BS-CU does not have available computational capacity to serve UEs, the method goes to step .
304
308
In step (i.e. the BS-CU has available computational capacity to serve additional UEs), the BS-DU broadcasts the available computational capacity of the BS-CU. For example, the BS-DU broadcasts the available computational capacity of the BS-CU using system information block (SIB) or master information block (MIB). Also, the BS-DU broadcasts a reference signal. The method goes to step .
308
310
312
In step , the UE determines whether it is in connected state or in idle state. It the UE is in connected state, the method goes to step . If the UE is in idle state the method goes to step .
310
314
In step (i.e. the UE is in connected state), the UE, which is configured to monitor neighboring cell signals, receives and measures the reference signal from the BS-DU. The UE may receive and decode the SIB or MIB from the BS-DU. The method goes to step .
314
316
304
In step , the UE determines whether the signal strength and/or quality of the BS-DU is greater than the signal strength and/or quality of a source BS-DU. If the signal strength and/or quality of the BS-DU is better than the signal strength and/or quality of a source BS-DU the method goes to step . If the signal strength and/or quality of the BS-DU is not better than the signal strength and/or quality of a source BS-DU, the method loops back to step .
316
318
304
In step (i.e. the signal strength and/or quality of the BS-DU is greater than the signal strength and/or quality of a source BS-DU), the UE determines whether the available computational capacity of the BS-DU is greater than an available computational capacity threshold. If the available computational capacity of the BS-DU is greater than the available computational capacity threshold the method goes to step . If the available computational capacity of the BS-DU is not greater than the available computational capacity threshold the method loops back to step .
318
In step , the UE initiate a mobility procedure with the source BS-DU.
312
316
In step (i.e. the UE is in idle state), the UE is configured with an available computational capacity threshold for UE initiated data traffic. The method goes to step .
306
320
322
In step (i.e. the BS-CU does not have available computational capacity to serve additional UEs), the BS-CU determines whether another BS-CU has available computational capacity. If another BS-CU has available computational capacity, the method goes to step . If no other BS-CU has available computational capacity, the method goes to step .
320
324
322
In step (i.e. another BS-CU has available computational capacity), the BS-DU determines whether it has available radio resource. If the BS-DU has available radio resources the method goes to step . If the BS-DU has available radio resources the method goes to step .
322
300
In step (i.e. no other BS-CU has available computational capacity OR another BS-CU has available computational capacity but the BS-DU does not have available radio resources), the BS-CU configures the BS-DU to stop broadcasting the SIB, MIB and/or the reference signal. The method loops back to step .
324
In step (i.e. another BS-CU has available computational capacity and the BS-DU has available radio resources), the BS-DU is coupled to the other BS-CU. The BS-CU and/or the BS-DU may signal a management and orchestration (MANO), an operations and management (OAM) and/or a self-organizing network (SON) function to relocate the BS-CU. In this way, the use of network resources may be optimized.
FIG. 13
shows schematically a diagram of a method performed in a communication network according to an embodiment. The method may be performed by the AMF but it will be understood that it could be equally performed by other another function of the core network.
400
402
404
FIG. 10
FIG. 11
In step , the AMF determines whether to operate in a proactive mode of operation (as discussed in reference to ) or in a reactive mode of operation (as discussed in reference to ). If the AMF operates in a proactive mode of operation the method goes to step . If the AMF operates in a reactive mode of operation the method goes to step .
402
404
In step (i.e. the AMF operates in a proactive mode of operation) the AMF receives a radio access network configuration update from a BS-CU comprising an available computational capacity of the BS-CU. The reception may be periodical or event based. The AMF may transmit a radio access network configuration update acknowledgement to the BS-CU. The method goes to step .
404
406
In step , the AMF initiates a new session setup. The method goes to step .
406
408
410
In step , the AMF determines whether the BS-CU has enough available computational capacity to handle a session flow. If the BS-CU has enough available computational capacity to handle a session flow the method goes to step . If the BS-CU does not have enough available computational capacity to handle a session flow the method goes to step .
408
In step (i.e. the BS-CU has enough available computational capacity to handle a session flow), the AMF proceeds with the session setup procedure. The AMF is transmits a PDU session resource setup request to the BS-CU. Then, the AMF receives a PDU session resource setup response from the BS-CU.
410
412
414
In step (i.e. the BS-CU does not have enough available computational capacity to handle a session flow), the AMF determines whether the UE has multi-connectivity with another BS-CU coupled to another BS-DU. If the UE has multi-connectivity with another BS-CU coupled to another BS-DU the method goes to . If the UE does not have multi-connectivity with another BS-CU coupled to another BS-DU the method goes to .
412
404
In step (i.e. the UE has multi-connectivity with another BS-CU coupled to another BS-DU), the AMF switches to the BS-CU coupled to the BS-DU to initiate a new session setup and loops back to step .
414
In step (i.e. the UE does not have multi-connectivity with another BS-CU coupled to another BS-DU), the AMF does not transmit a PDU session resource request to the BS-CU and the method is stopped.
404
416
In step (i.e. the AMF operates in a reactive mode of operation) the AMF initiates a new session setup. The AMF transmits a PDU session resource setup request to the BS-CU. Then, the AMF receives a PDU session resource setup response from the BS-CU indicating whether the PDU session resource request is accepted or refused. The method goes to step .
416
414
418
In step , the AMF determines whether the PDU session resource setup request is accepted (i.e. success) or rejected (i.e. failure). If the PDU session resource setup request is accepted, the AMF stores the PDU session resource setup response and goes to step . If the PDU session resource setup request is rejected, the AMF stores the PDU session resource setup response and goes to step .
418
404
In step (i.e. the PDU session resource setup request is rejected), the AMF verifies the cause for rejecting the PDU session resource setup request and goes to step .
FIG. 14
shows schematically a diagram of a method performed in a communication network according to an embodiment. The method may be performed by the AMF or SMF but it will be understood that it could be equally performed by other another function of the core network.
In this embodiment, the available computational capacity of a BS-CU may be taken into consideration to decide whether to a use a unicast, a multicast, a broadcast session flow or a mix therefore to serve multiple UEs. The decision may be dependent or independent of a UE density (i.e. number of UEs receiving traffic) and/or radio conditions. For a multicast or broadcast session flow there may be limited need for complementary uplink session flows (for feedback, retransmissions, etc.). Thus, it may be computationally less intense to setup a downlink-only multicast or broadcast session flow compared to a unicast session flow (even if there are a limited number of UEs receiving traffic which under normal circumstances may have made unicast session flows more efficient). This may be advantageous in some situations in that only a single session flow may be required for multicast/broadcast session as compared to multiple individual session flows for each user with unicast session flows. Here the AMF or SMF may identify an Xcast session flow (i.e. a session flow that is intended to be delivered over the air to multiple users (i.e. at least two)). The Xcast session flow may be delivered using a mix of unicast, multicast and/or broadcast session flows (hence called Xcast)) with possible assistance from application and session management function.
500
In step , the AMF or SMF may receive and/or identify an Xcast session flow.
502
504
506
In step , the AMF or SMF may check the available computational capacity of the BS-CU. If the available computational capacity of the BS-CU is above a threshold, the method goes to step . If the available computational capacity of the BS-CU is below a threshold, the method goes to step .
504
In step (i.e. the available computational capacity of the BS-CU is above a threshold), the BS-CU determines the UE density and/or radio conditions with one or more BS-DUs coupled to the BS-CU. The AMF or SMF establishes a unicast, multicast, broadcast flow or a mix thereof depending on UE density and/or radio conditions. For example, if the UE density is above a threshold and/or radio conditions are below a threshold, the AMF or SMF may establish multicast or broadcast session flows with the UEs. If the UE density is below a threshold and/or radio conditions are above a threshold, the AMF or SMF may establish unicast session flows with the UEs.
506
In step (i.e. the available computational capacity of the BS-CU is below a threshold), the AMF or SMF may establish multicast or broadcast session flows with UEs without uplink session flows.
FIG. 15
shows schematically a communication network according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, the core network comprises a network management function (NMF), a self-organizing network (SON) or a management and orchestration (MANO) entity. The NMF, SON or MANO entities may comprise a machine learning or artificial intelligence module configured to predict the outcome of a possible new session setup based on the real-time evaluation of available computational capacity of a BS-CU and past data related to added computational complexity from initiating a new session setup.
One or more of the above embodiments may provide one or more advantages. In some scenarios, they enable better provisioning of centralized BS pool resources, in particular in 5G networks, taking various radio access network performance and available computational capacity aspects into account. They may provide cost efficiency (due to network provisioning) and flexibility in the network operation. They may provide higher fault tolerance in network operation as well (any fault in the centralized server farm can be overcome quickly by distributing all the tasks to the distributed RRHs).
The required data processing apparatus and functions may be provided by means of one or more data processors. The apparatus may be provided in the communications device, in the control apparatus and/or in the access point. The described functions at each end may be provided by separate processors or by an integrated processor. The data processors may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), gate level circuits and processors based on multi core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The data processing may be distributed across several data processing modules. A data processor may be provided by means of, for example, at least one chip. Appropriate memory capacity can also be provided in the relevant devices. The memory or memories may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory.
In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the invention may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof. The software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips, or memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic media such as hard disk or floppy disks, and optical media such as for example DVD and the data variants thereof, CD.
As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:
(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analogue and/or digital circuitry) and
(i) a combination of analogue and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware and
(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and
(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):
(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.
The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the exemplary embodiment of this invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. In particular, it will be understood that one or more of the above embodiment may be combined. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims. Indeed there is a further embodiment comprising a combination of one or more of any of the other embodiments previously discussed. | |
The present invention pertains to methods and apparatus for storing and transferring electrical charges in a semiconductor substrate. This application is related to our copending applications Ser. No. 56, 353, filed July 20, 1970 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,847) and Ser. Nos. 69,651 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,685) and 69,649 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,988) filed Sept. 4, 1970, and our concurrently filed applications Ser. Nos. 84,665 and 84, 659 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,186), all of common assignee as the instant application and incorporated herein by reference thereto.
Methods and apparatus for storing electrical charges in the surface adjacent portions of a semiconductor substrate by the formation of depletion regions therein from an insulatingly overlying conductor member are described in the above-referenced patent applications. For example, in our copending application Ser. No. 56,353, we have disclosed, inter alia, a conductor-insulator-semiconductor (CIS) structure wherein electrical charges are stored and transferred along the surface-adjacent portions of the semiconductor substrate by applying appropriate voltage signals to a plurality of insulatingly overlying conductor members. In that application we provide storage and transfer under each conductor member and the transfer of electrical charge is achieved by overlapping adjacent depletion regions in the semiconductor substrate. As pointed out in that application, high density, high speed and transfer of electrical charges are provided.
The transfer of electrical charges along the surface of a semiconductor substrate involves an electric field-driven diffusion-like phenomenon in which the transfer of charge is definable by a diffusion equation. This equation is found to contain a diffusion constant which is proportional to the concentration of electrical charge. As a result, the rate of transfer of charge between two adjacent storage regions is greatest with high charge concentration and decreases rapidly with decreasing concentration. Therefore, it is exceedingly difficult to transfer substantially 100 percent of a particular charge in a short period of time. The usefulness of these devices is therefore somewhat limited.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an electrical charge storage and transfer apparatus and method in which charge controllably injected into a storage region is transferred to another storage region with high speed.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a residual charge in each storage region and controllably transfer charges above this level.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method for refreshing binary information represented by two different non zero levels of charge.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide electrical charge barriers between adjacent storage regions.
It is still another object of this invention to provide methods for transferring charges between storage regions by controlling the height of electrical barriers therebetween.
Briefly, and in accord with one embodiment of our invention, these and other objects of our invention are obtained by providing a first plurality of adjacently spaced conductor members insulatingly overlying a semiconductor substrate and a second plurality of conductor members insulatingly interposed between the spaced regions of the first plurality of conductor members. A first and second plurality of electrical charge storage regions are formed in the surface-adjacent adjacent portions of the semiconductor substrate by applying voltages to the first plurality of conductor members. Electrical charges, stored in the first plurality of storage regions, are controllably transferred to the second plurality of adjacent storage regions by applying appropriate voltages to the insulatingly interposed conductor members so that electrical barrier regions existing between the adjacent storage regions are lowered, and the electrical charges stored in these regions flow to the adjacent storage regions. Direction of charge transfer is effected by controlling the surface potentials of the adjacent storage regions and the barriers therebetween, with the magnitude of transfer controlled by the height of the barrier regions that are lowered. Means for transferring less than a predetermined charge are disclosed along with apparatus for periodically receiving and regenerating the stored charges for subsequent transfer or readout.
The novel features believed characteristic of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:
FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a simplified embodiment of our invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates typical voltage waveform suitable for transferring electrical charges along a semiconductor substrate;
FIGS. 3a- 3e are partial schematic illustrations in cross- section of an embodiment of our invention illustrating the transfer of electrical charges along a semiconductor substrate;
FIG. 4 illustrates typical voltage waveforms suitable for transferring electrical charges along the surface of a semiconductor substrate;
FIG. 5 illustrates the percentage of electrical charge transferred with time for different initial charge levels;
FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of conductor-insulator- semiconductor charge storage and transfer apparatus in accord with one embodiment of our invention;
FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line 1- - 1 of FIG. 6;
By way of example, FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an embodiment of our present invention in which the theory of operation relating to the controlled transfer of electrical charges along the surface-adjacent portions of a semiconductor substrate is described. FIG. 1 illustrates a semiconductor substrate material 11 of one conductivity type, such as N- type silicon, for example, with an insulator layer 12 thereover. Electrical charge storage at the surface-adjacent portions of the semiconductor substrate 11 are provided under storage control electrodes 13 and 14. These electrodes may, for example, be high conductivity materials such as molybdenum, tungsten, silicon or any of the other non- reactive conducting and semiconducting materials. An insulator layer 15 overlies the storage control electrodes 13 and 14 and insulates these electrodes from overlapping charge transfer electrodes 16 and 17. The charge transfer electrodes may be formed, for example, of similar conductive materials employed for the charge storage electrodes 13 and 14, or may further include lower melting point temperature materials such as aluminum or gold, for example, where subsequent processing steps do not prove detrimental to their use.
The surface charge storage and transfer device 10 further comprises a means for introducing electrical charges into the surface- adjacent portion of the semiconductor substrate 11. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a diffused region 18 of opposite conductivity from the substrate 11, thereby forming a P-N junction 19. Electrical contact is made to the diffused region 18 by a conductor member 20, for example, which may be formed at substantially the same time and of substantially the same material as the overlapping transfer electrodes 16 and 17, or alternately may be made of different materials. For example, conductor member 20 may be aluminum and electrodes 16 and 17, molybdenum.
The storage and transfer of electrical charge in accord with this embodiment of our invention is described with reference to the voltage waveforms of FIG. 2. The voltage waveform V.sub.O of FIG. 2 is a negative voltage of approximately 1 volt, and may be either D.C. or a pulsed signal. For convenience of description, FIG. 2 illustrates the voltage V. sub.O as a D.C. voltage. A voltage V.sub.1, which may, for example, be a D.C. voltage of -10 volts, when applied to the control electrode 13 produces a depletion region or storage region 21 in the surface-adjacent portion of the semiconductor substrate 11. Those skilled in the art can appreciate that the surface potential of this depletion region varies with the thickness of the insulator layer 12. With an insulator thickness of approximately 1,000 Angstroms between the control electrode 13 and the semiconductor material 11, a surface potential of approximately 8.5 volts is produced when no mobile surface electrical charges are present. As will be described below, this depletion region is sufficiently deep to store these electrical charges.
The introduction of electrical charges into the storage region 21 from the P-N junction 19 is achieved by lowering an electrical barrier region 22 existing therebetween. This may be achieved, for example, by the application of a voltage signal V.sub.2 to the transfer electrode 16. If the voltage V.sub.2 is -7 volts, for example, the electrical barrier region 22 is lowered sufficiently so that an electrical charge in the form of minority carriers introduced by the P-N junction 19 are free to move to the storage region 21. The introduction of charge into the storage region 21 commences with the lowering of the barrier region and ends with the raising of the barrier region. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the barrier region is lowered at a time t.sub.0 and raised at a time t. sub.1.
The electrical charge introduced into the storage region 21 remains in this location so long as not acted upon by an external field. However, the charge within the storage region 21 may be transferred to an adjacent storage region 23 underlying the control electrode 14. In accord with one of the novel features of our present invention, this is achieved by applying voltage signals V.sub.3 and V.sub.4 to to the electrodes 17 and 14, respectively. The voltage V.sub.3 lowers a barrier region 24 between the storage regions 21 and 23 and the voltage V.sub.4 produces the storage region 23. FIG. 2 illustrates the voltage signal V. sub.3 as commencing at a time t.sub.2 and the voltage signal V.sub.4 commencing at a time t.sub.3. Hence, the barrier region 24 is lowered at time t.sub.2 and the storage region 23 is formed at time t.sub.3. Electrical charge is transferred from the storage region 21 to the storage region 23 at the time t.sub.3, during the coincidence of voltages V.sub.3 and V.sub. 4. As will be described more fully below, the time required to transfer charge between these two storage regions is dependent upon the magnitude of the charge with the storage region 21 and the extent of charge transfer desired; i.e., a partial charge may be transferred from the storage region 21 more quickly than a total charge. The extent of charge transfer in part is determined by the extent to which the barrier region 24 is lowered.
As stated above, the transfer of charge commences with time t. sub. 3, the coincidence of voltage signals V.sub.3 and V.sub.4. Those skilled in the art can therefore readily appreciate that the voltage signal V. sub.3 could, in fact, occur at any time during the time period t.sub.3 to t.sub. 4. Whichever timing sequence employed, the transfer of electrical charges occurs in substantially the same manner. The charge stored within the region 23 is now ready to be transferred to the next adjacent storage region, if desired. Additionally, a new charge may be introduced into the storage region 21 as the charge is transferred from the region 23 to its next adjacent storage region. In this manner, a plurality or train of electrical charges may be transferred along the surface-adjacent portions of a semiconductor substrate. The electrical charges may be representative of an analog signal or a digital signal, if desired. A digital signal, for example, may be represented by a binary code with a charge above a predetermined level indicative of a binary 1, for example, and a charge below a predetermined level representative of a binary 0. In such a case, the digital information would be introduced by replacing the voltage V.sub.0 with the binary coded signal.
After the introduction and desired number of transfers, the electrical charges may be removed from the surface-adjacent portion of the semiconductor substrate by a suitable charge receive device 25, such as the one illustrated in FIG. 1. This device includes a diffused region 26 which forms a P-N junction 27 with the semiconductor substrate 11. The P- N junction 27 is biased from a voltage source V.sub.5 through a load device 28 and an electrode 29 which contacts the surface of the diffused region 26. The load device 28 may, for example, include a resistor, transistor or other suitable signal sensing means.
An output signal is derived from the receive device 25 each time an electrical charge is transferred to the P-N junction 27. This output signal varies in accord with the magnitude of the transferred charge. However, the magnitude of the charge received at the output device 25 is not necessarily equal to that introduced by the P-N junction 19. For example, during the course of charge transfer, a small portion of the electrical charge may be lost to the semiconductor bulk. Also, as the speed of transfer increases, a small portion of the electrical charge is left behind and hence with each succeeding transfer, less and less charge is transferred. Therefore, the signal received at the receive device is not necessarily of the same magnitude as that introduced by the P-N junction 19. One means for overcoming this signal degradation is disclosed in our copending application Ser. No. 69,649. In that application we disclose a receive device which exhibits gain. Where the stored charges are representative of digital information in the form of a binary code, the electrical charges received may be regenerated and redirected along a different storage channel, if desired, in a manner more fully described in our concurrently filed application Ser. No. 84, 665.
In accord with one of the novel features of our present invention, the loss of information due to the misplacement or loss of signal charge is minimized in at least three ways. First, a residual or bias charge is maintained in each storage region at all times during operation. The presence of this residual charge speeds up the transfer of the excess charge, which represents the information, so that at a given clock rate, a smaller amount of signal charge is left behind. Second, during operation, the surface potential of the storage regions are never permitted to become less negative than a certain minimum level so that losses due to charge injection into the semiconductor bulk are avoided. And thirdly, the width of the barrier region existing between adjacent storage regions can be made smaller than the storage regions so that electrical charge injected into the semiconductor bulk as the barrier region is raised is reduced. Still other means for increasing the efficiency of charge transfer are disclosed herein and will become more apparent from the following description with reference to FIGS. 3a through 3d and FIG. 4.
FIG. 3a schematically illustrates a plurality of adjacently spaced storage control electrodes 32 through 36 insulated from the surface of a semiconductor substrate by an insulator layer 31. A plurality of transfer control electrodes 51 through 54 are insulatingly interposed between the adjacently spaced storage control electrodes. Storage control electrodes 32, 34 and 36 are electrically connected to a first voltage signal &phgr;. sub.1 and storage control electrodes 33 and 35 are connected to a second voltage signal &phgr;.sub.2. Transfer control electrodes 51 and 53 are connected to a third voltage signal . phi..sub.1 ' and transfer control electrodes 52 and 54 are connected to a fourth voltage signal &phgr;.sub.2 '.
FIG. 3a also illustrates the surface potentials existing in the semiconductor substrate for various conditions for the four voltage signals. More specifically, FIG. 3a illustrates the storage regions 38 through 42 as substantially underlying the storage control electrodes 32 through 36, respectively, with narrow barrier regions 43 through 46 interposed between each adjacent storage region. The difference in surface potentials between the storage regions 38 and 39, for example, results from the difference in the voltage signals &phgr;.sub.1 and &phgr; . sub.2. This difference is illustrated in FIG. 4 during the time period t. sub.5 to t.sub.6. During this interval, the first voltage signal &phgr; . sub.1 is approximately -20 volts and the second voltage signal &phgr;. sub. 2 is -10 volts. Hence, in the absence of signal charge, the surface potential for the storage region 38 is approximately twice that for the storage region 39. During this same time interval, the third and fourth voltage signals &phgr;.sub.1 ' and &phgr;.sub.2 ' are zero and hence the surface potential in the barrier regions 43 through 46 is also zero, and hence each storage region is electrically isolated from each other storage region by the "height" of the barrier.
The barrier regions 43 through 46 exist during the time interval t.sub. 5 to t.sub.7 because this region of the semiconductor substrate is not under any substantial influence of an electric field. The barrier regions therefore prevent electrical charges in one storage region from moving to another storage region. These barrier regions, therefore, perform a very significant function in the operation of this embodiment of our invention. By lowering the barrier region, however, electrical charges from one storage region are permitted to flow to the next adjacent storage region, at least to the extent that the barrier is lowered.
In accord with one of the novel features of our present invention, the height of the barrier region is controlled by the magnitude of a voltage signal applied to the transfer control electrode insulatingly interposed between adjacent storage control electrodes. For example, during the time period t.sub.7 to t.sub.8, the third voltage signal &phgr; .sub.2 ' becomes -10 volts. Since this voltage signal is applied to transfer control electrodes 52 and 54, the barrier regions 44 and 46, respectively, underlying these electrodes are lowered. This condition is illustrated in FIG. 3b by the new position of the barrier regions 44 and 46. The manner in which the lowering of the barrier region is used to effect charge transfer will be described more fully below. First, however, assume that each storage region 38 through 42 contains a residual charge, 48 and that storage region 39 includes a charge 49 in excess of the residual charge 48. Further, assume that the storage region 41 contains no charge but for the residual charge 48. The existence of a charge 49 within the storage region 39 may, for example, be representative of a binary 1 and the absence of an excess charge within the storage region 41 a binary 0.
In operation, the electrical charge 49 within the storage region 39 is transferred to the storage region 40 by first lowering the barrier region 44 existing between these two regions. As described above, this is achieved by applying a voltage &phgr;.sub.2 ' to the transfer control electrode 52. As illustrated in FIG. 4, at time t.sub.7, the voltage applied to the transfer control electrode 52 changes from 0 to - 10 volts, for example. As a result, the barrier level 44 is lowered sufficiently so that the electrical charge within the storage region 39 is free to move to the right. FIG. 3b illustrates this condition by the lowering of the barrier 44 and FIG. 3c illustrates a portion of the charge as it is controllably transferred from storage region 39 to storage region 40. FIG. 3d illustrates that the only charge remaining in storage region 39 is the residual charge 48 and that substantially all excess charge is transferred to the storage region 40. Assuming that this transfer of charge took place during the time interval t.sub.7 - t.sub.8, the third voltage signal &phgr;.sub.2 ' returns to zero and hence the barriers 44 and 46 are re-established.
The electrical charge now stored in region 40 can not, however, be transferred to the next adjacent storage region 41 unless the surface potential underlying storage control electrode 35 is greater (i.e., more negative) than that underlying storage control electrode 34. As is apparent from FIG. 3d, this condition does not exist until a time t.sub. 9, whereupon the first voltage signal &phgr;.sub.1 returns to -20 volts and the second voltage signal &phgr;.sub.2 switches to -10 volts. During this time, t.sub.9 - t.sub.12, the surface potential underlying control electrode 35 is greater than that underlying electrode 34; hence, electrical charge stored in the storage region 40 can be transferred to the next adjacent storage region 41 when the barrier region 45 existing between these storage regions is lowered. In a manner substantially similar to that described above, this transfer of charge is effected during the time period t.sub.10 to t.sub.11.
A particularly advantageous characteristic of our invention is the speed and efficiency with which electrical charges may now be transferred from one storage region to another. Since the storage regions each contain a residual charge which is not transferred, the time required for transfer of substantially all the additional charge except for the residual charge is greatly reduced. This characteristic of our invention can be better appreciated by reference to FIG. 5 wherein typical variations of voltage with time are illustrated for the transfer of charge from one storage region to the next adjacent storage region. As illustrated by the curves 61 and 62, a substantially large portion of the charge is transferred in the first four or five units of time and that an exceptionally longer period of time is required to transfer the remaining charge. Hence, the benefits of providing a residual charge are readily apparent. The amount of residual charge which may advantageously provide improved rates of charge transfer depends, in part, on the size of the storage region, the magnitude of the total stored charge and the spacing between adjacent storage regions and naturally on the characteristics of the semiconductor substrate.
FIG. 5 illustrates yet another important characteristic of electrical charge transfer apparatus which ,may be used to great advantage in certain applications. Specifically, at time 0, curve 61 begins at a normalized value 1, whereas curve 62 begins at a normalized value of 0.5. In other words, curve 61 represents a storage region containing a maximum charge, whereas curve 62 represents a similar storage region having only 50 percent of its maximum charge. After four or five units of time, however, when the initial charge levels have decayed to a normalized level of approximately 10 percent, the difference between the two charge levels is very small, in fact, the two curves differ in charge by about one percent or less. This characteristic of charge transfer is particularly significant since it permits significantly higher rates of transfer without loss of information than would othewise be possible. Those skilled in the art can readily appreciate this fact more clearly by first considering some of the difficulties encountered in transferring electrical charges along the surface of a semiconductor substrate.
For example, when charge transfer devices are employed as shift registers, long trains of charges are transferred from one storage region to another in accord with a particular clocking rate. As described previously, if it is desired to transfer substantially all charge from one storage region to another then the rate of transfer must be substantially lower than if only a portion of the total charge is transferred. Where the charges being transferred are representative of binary 1's and 0's, and a binary 1 is represented by a first charge level and a binary 0 by a second lesser charge level, then it is essential to maintain the integrity of the signals; otherwise, the information is lost. A rapid rate of transfer will hence cause some of the charge from a binary 1, for example, to be left behind and if a sufficient number of these transfers occur, then the binary 1 level is seriously degraded. Additionally, the loss of charge may not be into the semiconductor bulk material, but may remain within the storage region to be added to by the next signal charge. In the event that the subsequent electrical charge is a binary 0 of lesser charge level, it will have acquired the additional charge left behind from the previous charge. In this situation, after several transfers, the binary 0 may not be distinguishable from the binary 1 and hence the information would be lost. Accordingly, it can be readily appreciated that the maximum rate of transfer of information in the form of electrical charge is determined primarily by the number of transfers of substantially less than 100 percent of the excess charge which can be tolerated before the charge levels corresponding to binary 1's and binary 0's become indistinguishable.
Superposed over the foregoing problem is the matter of the semiconductor substrate storage interval which is not infinitely long. In fact, storage intervals may only be in the order of seconds or less. Hence, it is essential that the electrical charges are transferred as rapidly as possible within this storage interval or that they are periodically regenerated so that the information, contained in the form of various charge levels, is not lost. Methods and apparatus for periodically regenerating electrical charges are more fully described in our concurrently filed application Ser. No. 84,665 and are described later only to the extent necessary for an appreciation of the present invention. Accordingly, reference may be made to this application for a more detailed description, if necessary.
Thus, in accord with the method of transferring information in the form of electrical charges, where a binary 1 is represented by an initial charge level of 100 percent of a normalized value and a binary 0 is represented by 50 percent of the same value, the degradation of information is caused by the difference in the amount of charge left behind for these two signals, not by the total amount of the charge left behind, as would be the case had a binary 0 been represented by the absence of excess charge. In this regard, FIG. 5 illustrates that the separation between curves 61 and 62 is much less than the separation between curve 62 and the abscissa. Many time periods have to elapse before the separation between curve 62 and the abscissa is as small as that achieved at an earlier time between the curves 61 and 62. Hence, high rates of charge transfer without loss of information are possible.
In addition, if the predetermined range for a binary 1 varies between 60 and 80 percent of a normalized charge and the predetermined range for a binary 0 varies between 20 and 40 percent of a similar charge, then by employing a threshold device which distinguishes between the different levels, electrical charges may be transferred at exceedingly high rates without loss of information. The transfer of electrical charges in this mode of operation is substantially similar to that described previously but for the rate of transfer. Since this is controlled by the frequency of the voltage signals applied to the storage and transfer control electrodes, the embodiment of our invention illustrated in FIG. 1 may be employed. Another particularly useful embodiment of our invention, however, is illustrated in FIG. 6.
FIG. 6 illustrates an electrical charge storage and transfer apparatus comprising a semiconductor substrate 71 having an insulator layer 72 thereover. For purposes of clarity in describing our invention, the semiconductor substrate 71 is considered to be N-type silicon, for example, of 1,1,1 crystallographic orientation with an insulating layer of silicon dioxide. It is to be understood, however, that other semiconductor materials such as germanium, Group III-V and II-VI semiconductor compounds, such as cadmium sulfide, gallium arsenide and indium antimonide, may be employed and insulator materials, such as silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or combinations of insulators may be employed if desired. Additionally, in addition to N-type semiconductor substrates, opposite conductivity P-type substrates with N-type diffused regions may also be employed if desired. In this case, the diffused regions could, for example, be formed by diffusion from a phosphorus source as opposed to a boron source and the applied potentials would be of an opposite polarity. Accordingly, our invention may be practised by employing various combinations of materials and those illustrated and described herein are intended by way of example and not by way of limiting our invention.
The insulator layer 72 is provided with a plurality of charge storage and transfer channels, with channels 73 and 74 illustrated in the drawing. These channels may, for example, be formed by selectively etching the insulator layer 72 to the surface of the semiconductor substrate and then subsequently forming a thinner insulator layer in the channel regions. For example, the insulator layer may comprise a pyrolytically formed silicon dioxide material having a thickness of approximately 10,000 A in regions outside the channels. In the channel regions, the oxide thickness may be about 1,000 A. As will become more apparent from the following description, the thickness of the silicon dioxide layer within the channel regions and outside the channel regions may vary with the particular circuit parameters since the thicker oxide layer primarily assures that the portions of the semiconductor substrate underlying the thick silicon dioxide are not activated by signals conducted through overlying conductor members.
The charge storage and transfer apparatus illustrated in FIG. 6 further comprises a first plurality of conductor members 75 through 80 with conductor members 75, 77 and 79 connected to a common electrical bus 81 and conductor members 76, 78 and 80 connected to another common electrical bus 82. As illustrated, conductor members 75, 77 and 79 are interdigitated with conductor members 76, 78 and 80. The conductor members 75 through 80 and the common electrical buses 81 and 82 may, for example, be formed by depositing a continuous conductive material over the insulator layer 72 and then appropriately masking and etching this conductive material to form the illustrated conductor members. Conductive materials such as, for example, molybdenum, tungsten, silicon, germanium or any of the other numerous non-reactive, conducting and semiconducting materials capable of withstanding the thermal stresses involved in semiconductor fabrication may be advantageously employed in practising our invention. Conductors having high conductivity such as tungsten and molybdenum are particularly advantageous because of their high conductivity which permits long, narrow conductors to be employed, where necessary.
Electrical charges are stored and transferred along the surface- adjacent portions of the semiconductor substrate in substantially the same manner described above with reference to the schematic illustrations of FIGS. 3a- 3d. FIG. 7, a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 1-- 1 of FIG. 6, illustrates the relationship between the storage control electrodes 72 and 76 and the transfer control electrodes 85 through 89 insulatingly disposed in overlapping relation with the storage control electrodes. The transfer control electrodes are also arranged in an interdigitated manner so that voltage signals substantially similar to those illustrated in FIG. 4 may be employed to control the barrier regions between the charge storage regions. Transfer control lines 85, 87 and 89 are connected to a common electrical bus 92 and conductor members 86 and 88 are connected to a common electrical bus 93. As illustrated, each electrical bus, 81, 82, 92 and 93 include contact pads protruding from the bus to provide means for connecting control signals to these storage and transfer electrodes. For example, electrical bus 81 is connected to a voltage signal similar to &phgr;.sub. 1 illustrated in FIG. 4 and bus 82 is connected to &phgr;.sub.2 ; bus 92 is connected to &phgr; . sub.2 ' and bus 93 is connected to &phgr;.sub.1 ', also illustrated in FIG. 4.
FIG. 7 also illustrates a charge receive element 94 comprising an insulated gate field-effect transistor, for example, including a gate electrode 95 insulatingly disposed over the semiconductor substrate and overlapping diffused regions 96 and 97. As illustrated, transfer control electrode 75 overlaps a portion of the diffused region 96. This overlap permits transfer of charge between the storage region underlying storage electrode 75 and the diffused region 96.
Electrical charges are transferred along the surface-adjacent portion of the semiconductor substrate from right to left, for example, and are received by the charge receive device 94 in the following manner. First, a voltage V.sub.b is applied to an electrode 98 which contacts the diffused region 97 and an appropriate gate voltage is connected to the insulated gate electrode 95 through an electrode 99. The gate voltage may, for example, be a signal substantially similar to that illustrated in FIG. 4 by the waveform &phgr;.sub.1 '. During the time prior to t.sub.6 when &phgr;.sub.1 ' is at -10 volts, the voltages applied to the gate electrode 95 and the electrode 98 cause the diffused region 96 to become charged to a voltage substantially similar to the voltage V.sub.b. At time t.sub.6 , the voltage applied to the gate electrode 95 has been brought to zero and hence the diffused region 96 becomes electrically isolated from the surrounding regions except for a connection to an electrode 99. As is more fully described in our concurrently filed application Ser. No. (RD-3800), the arrival of an electrical charge from the charge storage and transfer channel 73 changes the voltage on the diffused region 96 by an amount proportional to the magnitude of the transferred charge. By monitoring or sensing the voltage change at this point, an electrical readout signal representative of the charges stored in the storage channel can be obtained. A typical device for performing this function is illustrated in our concurrently filed application. Also, the voltage change may be utilized to regenerate or refresh the electrical charge for subsequent transfer. FIG. 6 illustrates a charge regeneration device 100 suitable for regenerating binary 1's and 0's which are initially characterized, for example, by 100 percent of a normalized charge and 50 percent of a normalized charge, respectively. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the charge storage and transfer channel 74 is separated into two substantially equal portions 74a and 74b separated by a region of thick insulator material. A gate electrode 101 overlies the channel region 74b and is electrically connected to the diffused region 96 by the contacting electrode 99. The gate electrode 101 may, for example, be formed during the masking and etching of the storage control electrodes 85 through 89. An electrical charge is introduced into the channel region 74 through a diffused region 102 formed in the surface- adjacent portions of the semiconductor substrate in the channel region 74. Electrical contact between the diffused region 102 and a voltage carrying conductor 103 is provided by the conductor filled aperture 104. Conductor 103 is connected to a source of voltage V.sub.a which is selected so as to inject or introduce charge into the channel region 74. The amount of charge injected is controlled, in part, by the voltage appearing on the gate electrode 101. This voltage is derived from the diffused region 96 which receives the electrical charges being transferred along the transfer channel 73. The voltage V.sub. a applied to the conductor member 103 is adjusted so that when no charge is received by the diffused region 96, the voltage appearing on the gate electride 101 is sufficient to permit electrical charge to flow in the depletion region under the gate electrode into the channel 74b. In addition to the charge injected under the gate electrode 101, charge is also injected into the channel region 74a and is received within the storage region underlying the storage control electrode 85. The two charges injected into the channels 74a and 74b are transferred along each respective channel by the overlying storage and control electrodes in substantially the same manner as described above until they arrive at a point 105 along the storage channel 74 and underlying electrode 86 where the two signals are combined to produce an electrical charge representative of 100 percent of a normalized charge.
Electrical charges, therefore, received at the receive device 94 in channel 73 having a magnitude less than a predetermined value, such as a binary 0, produce a binary 1 in the next adjacent channel 74 by the charge regeneration apparatus contained therein. In the event, however, that the charge received by the diffused region 96 is of a sufficient magnitude to raise the voltage applied to the gate electrode 101 so that the surface potential thereunder is higher than V.sub.a, electrical charges are inhibited from flowing along the storage and transfer channel 74b. The electrical charge flowing along the channel 74a, however, is not inhibited and hence this charge is transferred along the channel to the point 105 where there is no charge to be combined therewith and hence the charge transferred into the main portion of the storage and transfer channel 74 is only approximately 50 percent of that previously transferred. The difference between the total charge previously injected and that injected as a result of the larger charge received by the diffused region 96 is a function of the area of each channel 74a and 74b relative to the total area of the channel 74. For example, as illustrated, channels 74a and 74b are of equal cross- sectional area and hence each provides approximately 50 percent of the total charge that can be injected into the charge storage and transfer channel 74. Obviously, other proportions may be utilized if desired.
As described previously, the regeneration of electrical charges requires an ability to distinguish between electrical charges above and below a predetermined threshold value. In the embodiment of our invention illustrated in FIG. 6, this threshold value is determined by the magnitude of the voltage V.sub.a applied to the conductor member 103. By selecting this voltage in accord with the charge applied to the gate electrode 101 and the magnitude of the charge to be injected into the channel region 74, electrical charges received at the diffused region 96 may be regenerated in a complementary manner; i.e., the regenerated signal is the complement of the receive signal. It should be noted, however, that the regenerated signal does not depend on the magnitude of the received charge but rather is dependent only on whether the transferred charge is above or below a threshold value. In this manner, the partial degradation of the charge resulting from previous transfers along the substrate are eliminated.
Those skilled in the art can readily appreciate that numerous advantages flow from our invention. Specifically, in accord with this method of transferring electrical charges between adjacent storage regions separated by barrier regions controlled transfer of electrical charge is provided. Additionally, by maintaining a constant residual charge in the storage regions, the speed of transfer between adjacent regions is substantially enhanced. Further, by maintaining the width of the barrier regions relatively small when compared with the storage regions, the loss of charge into the semiconductor bulk is substantially reduced and the time of transfer between adjacent storage regions is also substantially reduced. Further, although our invention is primarily described with reference to binary encoded information, multilevel codes, for example, can also be employed.
Accordingly, while only certain embodiments and examples of our present invention have been described herein, it is apparent that many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, we intend, by the appended claims, to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of our present invention. | |
We all see it coming… Digital is slowly taking over every aspect of analog technology, including video surveillance systems. In this context, with technology constantly moving forward, why wouldn’t you consider shifting from analog security cameras to IP cameras?
If you often find yourself wondering if you should change your analog cameras for IP cameras, you are not alone. In fact, one of the most common question we are asked is:
“What are the benefits of IP cameras?”
So, let’s talk about the difference between IP and analog cameras and find out what it is that makes IP surveillance such a great option.
What is an IP camera?
An Internet protocol camera, or an IP camera, is a digital video camera used for surveillance that can send and receive information via a network and the Internet. The webcam is a similar concept but, unlike an IP camera or “netcam”, it is not linked with other cameras or monitors. There are two types of IP cameras:
- centralized, which require a central Network Video Recorder (NVR) to handle the recording;
- decentralized systems, which don’t require a NVR since the recording function is build-in.
Analog vs IP Technology
In a traditional analog CCTV set up, the cameras need to be linked to a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) that records, processes, and stores all the data. The DVR converts the analog signal into digital and stores it on a hard drive for later retrieval.
In a Network Video Recorder (NVR), on the other hand, the analog images captured by the cameras are being converted into digital data by the camera itself. Then, the footage is streamed to the NVR who captures compresses and records the data.
5 key benefits of IP cameras
Besides IP cameras’ ability to immediately convert analog images into digital data, there are other reasons you should consider this type of video surveillance. Let’s take a look at five of them:
Picture quality
Think about every CSI episode you have ever seen and tell me if this scene sounds familiar. A group of detectives working on a case analyzes some video footage when one of them suddenly sees something peculiar and asks the computer guy to enhance the image. The blurry footage becomes crystal clear as the guy enhances it, helping them to catch the culprit, and solve the case. Of course, that’s total nonsense since you wouldn’t be able to get a crystal clear image from an analog footage. All analog video cameras use the NTSC (National Television System Committee) analog video standard, meaning a narrow range of resolutions.
However, things change and it’s usually for the better. In an IP camera universe, there is a large range of resolutions you can choose from, depending only on your specific requirement and not a standard regulation.
Video analytics
CCTV systems depend very much on human monitoring to catch the events in real time. If the person watching the monitors missed something or something went wrong with the cameras, they would have to reconstruct the events in order to get the facts straight.
With IP cameras, you can set your network to mark events that occur in the cameras’ field of vision. This way, instead of having to check hours of footage, your network will tell you exactly when something abnormal happened.
Ease of installation
There was a time when a Network Attached Storage (NAS)-based installation was a complex process that required the presence of an expert. But now, companies have developed a universal plug-and-play camera recognition, which makes NVR installations extremely simple.
Scalability
Analog security cameras must be connected directly to a DVR in order to record, process, and store the data. The problem with this is that there are a finite number of ports cameras can be plugged into. With IP cameras, this is no longer a problem, since there is no limit to the number of cameras that can be connected to a network.
Reliability
Taking into account the advantages of NVR over CCTV set ups, it’s easy to see how IP cameras are faster, more reliable and more durable than analog security cameras.
The cost of opting for IP surveillance
Like most good things in life, IP surveillance comes with a cost. We’re not just talking about the price, but also about cabling issues and lack of standards.
- Higher initial price
Naturally, IP cameras are more expensive than analog ones. Besides the camera, you will need a proper backup from the network system; otherwise, the usage of an IP surveillance camera becomes pointless.
Another issue with IP cameras is that the cable costs will definitely be higher. IP surveillance systems need UTP cables.
- Lack of standards
IP cameras can encode the video differently or use different programming interface, which can become troublesome. A combination of camera recorder will be needed in these situations.
Whether you are looking of an IP camera or for an analog security camera, at Callaway Security you can find a wide range of security solutions delivering unparalleled functionality and flexibility.
Contact us and we will decide together which system is the best security solution for you. | https://www.callawaysecurity.com/blog/switching-from-analog-to-ip-cameras/ |
Chemistry, as part of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, is one of many areas where women's potential is often still being "STEMmed". In other words, women receive fewer opportunities both as students and in leadership positions, and hence the entire community loses out on this vast pool of talent. This *ACS Omega***Virtual Issue** on "**Women at the Forefront of Chemistry**" is our way to celebrate women's talent in chemistry and its interfacing areas by giving the floor to 50 outstanding women scientists from all over the world who have published in *ACS Omega* as corresponding authors.
It is well-known that women are under-represented in the STEMs.^[@ref1]^ The data presented in the latest report "She Figures 2018," one of a series of publications released since 2003 by the European Commission, offer an overview of gender (in)equality in Research and Innovation at the pan-European level. In most European Union countries examined, while the percentage of STEM female Ph.D. graduates between 2013 and 2016 grew slightly in fields such as biological sciences, environmental science, and information and communication technologies, their numbers grew at a lower rate compared to their male counterparts in several other STEM fields. The document additionally shows that the proportion of women becomes smaller and smaller, as they climb the academic career ladder. While this disparity does not only apply to STEMs, the gender gap here is even more severe, where the numbers reveal the following: women make up 32% of students and 36% of B.Sc. and M.Sc. graduates, and they make up 37% of Ph.D. students and 39% of Ph.D. graduates. As they move into academic careers, they make up 35% assistant, 28% associate, and 15% full professors, respectively. The percentage of women full professors in Europe for all the disciplines in 2016 was 24%. In 2013, these latter figures were lower, at 14% for the STEMs and 22% for all disciplines. So, while the gender gap in the academic leadership positions has reduced, this is progressing slowly, and gender parity remains far from balanced.
The increase of the share of women full professors since 2003 and over the last three years might indicate that the gender gap will close fairly quickly in Europe.^[@ref1]^ However, prominent studies on a broader global scale are not that optimistic. For instance, The Global Gender Gap Report 2017^[@ref3]^ stated that, globally, gender parity is shifting into reverse this year for the first time since the World Economic Forum started measuring it and states more specifically "on current trends, the overall global gender gap can be closed in exactly 100 years across the 106 countries covered since the inception of the Report, compared to 83 years last year". Additionally, the same report suggests that with the continued widening of the economic gender gap it will now not be closed for another 217 years.^[@ref3]^
Along the same lines, a report by the United Nations Development Programme Gender Social Norms Index,^[@ref4]^ published in 2020 that gathers data from 75 countries, covering over 80% of the world's populations, highlights how the progress toward gender equality is slowing down since 2013. The world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030, as foreseen 25 years ago by the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.^[@ref4]^ More regretfully, the analysis reveals that despite decades of progress close to 90% of men and women hold some degree of bias against women, thus suggesting that there still are invisible barriers that women face in achieving equality.^[@ref4]^
Without the pretense to be able to analyze in the short space of an Editorial, the complex reasons why this is happening, the low share of women full professors in European academia, and their slight increase in the last three years call for two comments. The first observation is that very few women reach top academic positions. It is noteworthy that there is a similar occurrence with roughly the same share, in many different sectors of civil society, from public administration to the magistracy and in the private sector. This means that the talents of a large fraction of women that are not given the opportunity to sit in decision-making bodies and/or to shape a research group activity according to their own vision are lost. It is therefore not surprising that a variety of models and empirical studies suggest that improving gender parity may result in significant economic dividends, which vary depending on the situation of different economies and the specific challenges they are facing. The world as a whole could increase global Gross Domestic Product by US\$5.3 trillion by 2025 by closing the gender gap in economic participation by 25% over the same period.^[@ref3]^
Second, and importantly for this Editorial, increasing the number of women in leadership positions could enhance the "role-modeling" influence on younger women so that they consider leadership roles to be achievable and are encouraged to strive for them. For this reason, in my role as an Associate Editor at this scientific journal, *ACS Omega*, I advocate that everyone make an effort to shine a light on successful women in STEM, as in a sort of giant virtual resonator. Here, *ACS Omega* showcases the contributions to the chemistry enterprise of 50 brilliant women scientists from all over the world, some at the beginning of their career and some already established. We hope to inspire other women, and men as well, to think of Chemistry and STEM subjects as fields where everyone can contribute fruitfully and encourage those in decision-making positions to implement concrete actions aimed at speeding up the closing of the gender gap in research and innovation.
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
Professor Luisa Torsi (image by Gerald Bruneau for Fondazione Bracco, used with permission) received her Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the University of Bari in 1993. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Bell Laboratories from 1994 to 1996 and between 2005 and 2006 was an invited professor at the University of Angers and Paris VII. She has been a full professor of chemistry at the University of Bari since 2005, and from 2017, appointed an adjunct professor at the Åbo Akademi University in Finland. Prof. Torsi has authored almost 200 papers and has been awarded research funding of over €26 million in 13 years, comprising several European contracts as well as national and regional projects. She has delivered more than 170 invited lectures, including nearly 40 as plenary and keynote contributions at international conferences.
Prof. Torsi has won numerous significant accolades over her career, including notching up several *firsts* as a woman in science. In 2010, she was awarded the Heinrich Emanuel Merck prize for analytical sciences; this marked the first time the award was given to a woman. In 2014 she was appointed as a member of the Horizon 2020 Program Committee by the Italian Minister for Education and Research and is still serving in this capacity. She is also the immediate past president of the European Materials Research Society, again the first woman to serve in this role. Prof. Torsi received the 2015 Platinum prize of the Global-Women Inventors and Innovators Network at the British Library in London. In 2017, she was elected as a Fellow of the Materials Research Society, for her pioneering work in the field of organic (bio) electronic sensors and their use for point-of-care testing. In 2019, she received the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering award. The analytical chemistry division of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS) conferred on her the Robert Kellner Lecturer 2019. More recently, she was recognized as one of the 10 extraordinary women of Southern Italy by the British Embassy in Rome, and the MediterraneaMente association conferred on her the Alto Riconoscimento "Virtù e Conoscenza."
Prof. Torsi is passionate about serving as a role model for younger women scientists. She has given several talks on this topic, including a TEDx talk, and was also a member of the National Board of the STAGES European project that aims at implementing strategies to trigger structural changes addressing issues connected with gender inequality in science. Prof. Torsi is one of the 100Experts (<https://100esperte.it>), a project lead by Fondazione Bracco, comprising an online databank with the names and CVs of female experts in STEM, a sector historically underrepresented by women but a strategic one for the economic and social development of Italy.
| |
Surveys & Projects
VISTA is a 4-m class wide field survey telescope for the southern hemisphere, equipped with a near infrared camera (1.65 degree diameter field of view) containing 67 million 0.34 arcsec pixels and available broad band filters at Z,Y,J,H,Ks and a narrow band filter at 1.18 micron.
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) is the largest telescope in the world designed for surveying the sky in visible light.This 2.6m telescope is equipped with an enormous 268-megapixel camera called OmegaCAM. With a total field view of 1°x 1°, twice as broad as the full Moon, the VST was conceived to support the VLT with wide-angle imaging by detecting and pre-characterising sources, which the VLT Unit Telescopes can then observe further. The VST will be dedicated to survey programmes, three of which have been planned already: KIDS, VST ATLAS and VPHAS+.
The Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) has the largest field of view of any astronomical infrared camera in the world. In a single exposure it can image an area of the sky equal to that of the full moon. It is a novel and unusual 'forward-cassegrain' optical design shown here mounted just above the centre of the 3.8-metre-aperture United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) mirror.
Although the camera's four mercury cadmium CCD detector arrays occupy a space not much larger than a compact disc case, the entire WFCAM camera is huge. It is an imposing black cylinder, 5.4 metres (18 feet) long and weighing 1500 kilograms (1.7 tons), which points towards the sky from the telescope's primary mirror.
GAIA-ESO Survey
Gaia-ESO is a public spectroscopic survey, targeting ≥ 105 stars, systematically covering all major components of the MilkyWay, from halo to star forming regions, providing the first homogeneous overview of the distributions of kinematics and elemental abundances. Gaia-ESO Survey is an ESO project (project 188.B-3002).
At CASU we process all data from the Giraffe spectrograph and perform the internal releases of data to the collaboration.
WEAVE
WEAVE is a new multi-object survey spectrograph for the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, on La Palma in the Canary Islands. It will allow astronomers to take optical spectra of up to ~1000 targets over a two-degree field of view in a single exposure (MOS), or to carry out integral-field spectroscopy using 20 deployable mini integral-field units (mIFUs) or one large fixed integral-field unit (LIFU). WEAVE's fibre-fed spectrograph comprises two arms, one optimised for the blue and one for the red, and offers two possible spectroscopic resolutions, 5000 and 20,000.
At CASU we will do the level 1 processing of all data from the spectrograph.
4MOST
4MOST will be a fibre-fed spectroscopic survey facility on the VISTA telescope with a large enough field-of-view to survey a large fraction of the southern sky in a few years. The facility will be able to simultaneously obtain spectra of ~2400 objects distributed over an hexagonal field-of-view of 4 square degrees.
At CASU we will do the level 1 processing of all data from the spectrograph.
IPHAS is a survey of the Northern Galactic Plane being carried out, in Hα, r and i filters, with the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). This will be followed in the next few years by a survey of the southern Galactic Plane on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) using OmegaCam, once it is commissioned. Together, these surveys provide a springboard to a quantitative revolution in our understanding of the extreme phases of stellar evolution. The previous generation of Hα surveys of the Galaxy, conducted over 30 years ago, begin to be incomplete even at mV=12 - the new generation extends this limit down to red magnitudes fainter than 20.
Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Gaia will provide unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group. This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population.
The INT Wide Field Survey used the Wide Field Camera on the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) to survey 200 square degrees of sky in five bands U, g, r, i, Z to one magnitude deeper than SDSS. The processing and calibration was the responsability of the WFS project.
Data cutouts, image catalogues, science images and much more are available through this access point. A registration script is built into the browser for those who wish to access the facilities offered therein.
The CASU Astronomy Data Centre houses a good selection of data from the UK's ground based telescopes (JKT, INT, WHT, UKIRT) as well as a number of catalogues (Tycho, Hipparcos, APM). The ADC also operates a mirror of the VizieR service developed by the Centre de Données, Strasbourg. | http://casu.ast.cam.ac.uk/surveys-projects/surveys-projects |
The invention provides an attitude control system and method for a roadway unstructured space redundancy monitoring robot, and belongs to the field of continuous robots. The system comprises a core controller, an upper computer, a sensor module, a potentiometer, a snakelike arm attitude control module, a rope driving module and a snake-shaped arm motion module. The method comprises the following steps: collecting roadway environment information; obtaining variable quantity of each joint angle of the snake-shaped arm; controlling angles of all joints of the snake-shaped arm, and transmitting voltage values, measured by the potentiometer, corresponding to the angles of all the joints to the core controller; calculating the voltage value to obtain a joint deflection angle, and further converting the joint deflection angle into a driving signal; driving the snake-shaped arm motion module, so that the redundant monitoring robot reaches a preset pose; and displaying the variable change condition of the redundant monitoring robot and the information collected by the sensor module. The problems that in the control process, the rotation angle of each joint is not easy to determine, and the mechanical arm cannot be flexibly controlled according to actual complex and changeable conditions are solved. | |
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to APCs Insider!
Q: The AMA issued new CPT® drug administration services guidelines for reporting an initial service that is interrupted and crosses dates. For example, if a nurse administers an IV push at 10 p.m. February 10 and another IV push at 1 a.m. February 11, CPT guidelines instruct coders to report a second initial service. This differs from what we have been doing. Can you advise us?
A: For CY 2012, the AMA updated the guidelines in the introductory notes for drug administration services. The new instructions do include information about reporting a second initial service if an IV push is administered on two dates of service during one encounter.
However, CMS has not changed its stance regarding reporting one initial service per encounter, even if the encounter crosses multiple dates of service. The drug administration services should be line-item reported for the date they are provided, but “only one initial drug administration service, including infusion services, per encounter for each distinct vascular access site, with other services being reported via the sequential, concurrent or additional hour codes,” according to Transmittal 2141.
CMS notes in Transmittal 2386 that it has “subsequently become aware of new CPT guidance regarding the reporting of initial drug administration services in the event of a disruption in service; however, Medicare contractors are to continue to follow the guidance” in the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 4, §230.2.
Editor’s note: Denise Williams, RN, CPC-H, vice president of revenue integrity services at Health Revenue Assurance Associates, Inc., in Plantation, FL, answered this question.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to APCs Insider! | https://www.hcpro.com/HIM-277210-859/QA-Drug-administration-services-that-cross-midnight.html |
Members of the Independent Redistricting Commission want a federal court to block them from being questioned about the legislative maps they drew.
In legal papers filed in U.S. District Court, attorneys for the five commissioners said their actions are protected by “legislative privilege,” a legal concept that generally prevents lawmakers from being questioned or sued about how they reached a decision. And they want a three-judge panel hearing the case to preclude lawyers for the challengers from being allowed to ask them about it in pretrial depositions.
Joe Kanefield, one of the commission’s attorneys, said this is just the first step to asking the federal judges to bar challengers from putting the commissioners on the stand at trial to get them to explain why they did what they did.
There is a long line of cases setting precedent that some actions of legislators are off-limits to outside questioning. And there already have been court rulings that the commissioners, in drafting the maps, are acting in a legislative capacity.
But other rulings back the contention that not everything the commissioners did can be considered a legislative action. Actions that were strictly administrative can be subject to legal scrutiny.
Hanging in the balance could be the balance of power at the Capitol — and ultimately the direction the state takes in everything from tax policy to how much support is provided for public schools and universities.
In essence, the court is being asked to overturn the lines the commission drew for the state’s 30 legislative districts, the districts that were used in November’s election. That election resulted in Democrats picking up four seats in both the state House and Senate.
The lawsuit contends commissioners acted on purpose to make that happen.
Voters created the commission in 2000 to draw both legislative and congressional boundaries, taking away the task from the Legislature itself. The constitutional provision sets standards for the commission to use, from ensuring compliance with federal voting laws to protecting communities of interest and, when possible, creating competitive districts.
It also says districts are supposed to have equal population. Using figures from the 2010 census, that should come out to about 213,000 in each of the 30 districts. But the commission’s own data shows it created districts ranging from 203,026 to 220,157.
The legal claim, however, goes beyond pure numbers.
Challengers contend commissioners purposely moved registered Republicans out of what would have been otherwise competitive districts and instead “packed” them into adjoining districts where Republicans already had an edge. That, the lawsuit contends, resulted in deliberately underpopulated districts where Democrats had a better chance of winning.
Mary O’Grady, another commission attorney, has argued there were legitimate reasons for those changes, including protecting minority voting strength as required by federal law.
It will be up to the three-judge panel to decide whether that population variation is legal. If they rule the process was flawed, the judges could order the commission to start over again and draw new lines for the 2014 elections, this time following different procedures.
This fight relates to a bid by challengers, in preparing for the trial, seeking to question commissioners ahead of time on a host of issues they believe will help buttress their claims that the changes were made for illegitimate reasons.
For example, they want to explore how the two Republicans and two Democrats, chosen by legislative leaders, then selected Tucsonan Colleen Mathis, a registered political independent, to chair the panel. There are allegations that Mathis was really a Democratic sympathizer, as her husband, Christopher, had worked to elect Democratic lawmakers.
The challengers also want to inquire about who was hired for legal counsel and mapping consultant, as well as whether the commissioners gave any consideration to objections to the map filed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Kanefield said how commissioners made their decision is not subject to outside questioning any more than lawmakers can be questioned in court about why they voted for a specific measure.
Where it could be a closer call is his contention they also cannot be asked about conversations they had with the consultants, including the one hired to craft the final map. Kanefield even wants the court to preclude questioning about who they hired to draw the map.
“That is part of the commission’s legislative process,” he said, saying selecting a mapmaker is “integral” to the legislative duties of drawing the lines.
The state Court of Appeals, however, looking at a related issue, rejected the commission’s contention that the conversations commissioners had about hiring a mapping consultant are protected by legislative privilege. Judge Donn Kessler said while the decision of who to hire relates to the legislative decisions the commission makes, these are discretionary decisions, not policymaking decisions that are entitled to legislative immunity.
Kanefield noted, however, that the federal court is not legally required to accept the ruling of the state appellate court.
Commission lawyers also want to block questioning of Christopher Mathis, calling that “an end-run about legislative privilege and an attempt to annoy, embarrass, and oppress the Matheises.” They added the law prevents one spouse from being questioned about communications with the other during their marriage. | http://archive.azcentral.com/business/abg/articles/20130110commission-wants-court-block-questions.html |
The courts of imperial China, especially during the Ming & Qing dynasties, were renowned for their sumptuous embroidered robes, but so too were Buddist and Daoist temples. Out new collection of beautifully jewel-colored robe designs represents this interesting variety. From imperial robes worn by the emperor, to a robe worn during Tbetan religious ceremonies, to a classic Qing Dynasty civil servant's robe, to the short women's blouse from the Republican ear, this series represents an eclectic selection compared to our original Asianera hand painted series called Traditional Chinese Costume which we introduced back in 2001. | http://asianera.biz/en/product/604-embroidered-treasure/3450-large-rectangle-trinket-tray-flower-short-gown |
This May, Tessa Packard London co-hosted a panel discussion with law firm Collyer Bristow, themed The Face of British Luxury Today. Chaired by Edward Taylor of Quintessentially, other panellists included Georgie Coleridge Cole, founder of Sheerluxe; Jacob Tomkins, brand consultant and founder or luxury watch publication Twelve Journal; and Shirley Leigh-Wood Oakes, founder of Wickerwood, an integrated brand influence agency.
After introducing the panel, discussions quickly began on the very nature of the topic itself: what is luxury? What followed was an hour’s lively debate on themes as far reaching as the place of technology and social media in the luxury sector, the heritage appeal of British luxury brands, green luxury and the challenges of manufacturing and marketing luxury goods in the UK. The panel also challenged the notion of luxury in the 21st Century and contemplated whether the word ‘luxury’ itself was increasingly over-used by both luxury and non-luxury brands in their promotion of goods and services.
In a world where there are ever-increasing numbers of luxury brands and luxury platforms surfacing, the event gave both speakers and audience a chance to contemplate the many facets to the luxury concept today. | https://www.tessapackard.com/in-action/ |
This position supports Mercy's philosophy of patient centered care by providing timely, high quality cytological preparation and diagnosis. The Cytotechnologist is responsible for specimen preparation and diagnosis of both gynecological and non-gynecological specimens. The Cytotechnologist assists in a variety of procedures, including FNA, biopsy, EBUS, and others.
Job/Position Specific Duties
Job Specific Duties/Essential Functions
Ensure that accurate and clinically relevant information is communicated with patients, their families, and co-workers at hand offs and other times as needed. Take all measures necessary to ensure that the appropriate and involved parties have communicated necessary information in order to allow for the best possible patient outcome
Properly identifies patients and samples during the pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical phases of testing
Performs specimen accessioning
Assists pathologists in patient procedures, including FNA, biopsy, EBUS, and others
Maintains, troubleshoots, and resolves issues with protocols and instruments
Screens and diagnoses gynecological specimens
Screens non-gynecological specimens
Instructs physicians, nurses, and patients on proper specimen collection
Maintains departmental statistics and workload monitoring as required by CAP
Prioritizes workload to ensure timely reporting of results
Maintains and improves skills by participating in at least one continuing education activity annually
Actively seeks and identifies opportunities for process improvement
Assists in procedure writing, updating, and validating
Acts as a resource for laboratory medicine information to providers and others
Uses laboratory information system access information, enter results, and generate reports
Position Specific Job Duties/Essential Functions
N/A
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Knowledge of laboratory protocols and procedures
Knowledge of regulatory requirements, including CAP, COLA, CLIA, TJC, and FDA
Ability to work quickly and efficiently under pressure without sacrificing quality
Ability to multi-task, prioritize, and work with interruptions
Skill to use standard laboratory instrumentation
Skill to use the laboratory information system (LIS)
Ability to recognize and correct problems with quality control
Ability to recognize problems and troubleshoot laboratory equipment
Ability to detail-oriented
Ability to complete appropriate documentation and paperwork clearly and completely
Professional Experience Required vs. Preferred
Experience preferred, but not required. | https://www.iahospitaljobs.com/job/2711322/cytotechnologist |
'Two of our brothers are gone:' Gaming community reacts, comes together after shooting
As news continues to come out of Jacksonville following Sunday's deadly shooting at a Madden video game tournament, gamers are taking to the internet to share their thoughts about the senseless violence that left three dead, including the shooter, and 11 wounded.
"Crying and in so much pain. Prayers to the families of Trueboy and Spotme," Eric "Problem" Wright, a popular Madden player and Twitch streamer, wrote on Twitter referencing two of the players who were killed. "All over a videogame. Two of our brothers are gone man and its so disturbing. One of the most tragic days ive experienced. This community is like family. Broken."
"We are shocked and saddened by the tragedy that took place in Jacksonville today," the official Twitch Twitter account wrote.
"This is a horrible situation, and our deepest sympathies go out to all involved," tweeted EA Sports, makers of Madden 19.
Bungie, makers of the popular "Destiny" and "Halo" video game franchises, announced Sunday night that its social media accounts will be silent Monday out of respect for the victims. The company was previously planning to debut a new trailer for its hotly anticipated forthcoming game, "Destiny 2," on Monday.
"I don’t understand this world sometimes," wrote Ronnie Singh, better known online as Ronnie2K, the popular digital marketing director for the NBA 2K franchise. "It’s video games. There is no bigger joy in the world and it has to be ruined. Prayers up to those in Jacksonville."
Others took to the internet to comment on how video games shouldn't be blamed for the latest shooting, noting how the gamers embrace one another and the gaming community at these events.
"Gamers come to these events to celebrate their hobby. We come to celebrate each other," wrote popular gamer and streamer Steven Williams, also known online as Boogie2988. "End. Of. Story."
In addition to sending prayers, the passionate community headed online to connect with one another and provide comfort.
"Our hearts are with the victims and all those impacted by today's events in Jacksonville," wrote Team Envy, a popular esports team. "On a day mired by tragedy, we are reminded that the gaming community and the positive support it can give are more important than ever."
Matthew Patrick a streamer with more than 5.1 million followers on Twitter at his MatPatGT handle, took to the internet to remind people that the games are just that – games.
"Remember, at the end of the day, games are entertainment. Your skill is NOT a reflection of your self worth. And at NO point should games EVER be used to justify violence."
Some media reports suggested the shooter, David Katz, was a disgruntled player who had lost earlier at the Madden tournament.
In addition to commenting, other members of the community are taking action to try and help their fellow gamers and the families impacted by Sunday's shooting. A GoFundMe campaign to help the victims has raised more than $2,000 in roughly four hours, hoping to reach $100,000.
"This act of violence was done with the purposeful intent on dividing us all. We must be stronger than the adversity this will cause," fundraiser creator Samanthia McGlaughn wrote.
"To those of The GLHF Game Bar, Chicago's Pizza, and all those at The Jacksonville Landing: The owners, staff, gamers, other patrons and innocent bystanders, WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. Your community stands behind you in full support during this difficult time." | https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2018/08/26/two-our-brothers-gone-gaming-community-reacts-comes-together-after-shooting/1107106002/ |
I am professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg. As of January 2016 I am also professor at the University of Oslo and partly on leave from my position in Gothenburg. I have previously been a research fellow at the EUI (Florence), Sussex European Institute (UK), Monash European Centre (Melbourne) and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (Stockholm). I received my PhD from the University of Gothenburg in 2004.
I have worked with a broad range of research questions during my research career, including lobbying and interest group politics, transparency, corruption, international governmental negotiations, deliberative democratic theory and, more recently, judicial politics. Much of the empirical focus has been on politics within the European Union, which I find a fascinating political system for political scientists to study. My current research projects deal with the legitimacy of international court, the decision-making of the Court of Justice of the EU, with gender effects on negotiations in the EU Council of Ministers, and with lobbying and interest group populations in Sweden and Europe. You will find more information on these projects in the left hand panel on this page.
One of the publications I am most proud of is the book Deliberation Behind Closed Doors: Transparency and Lobbying in the European Union (ECPR Press 2007). Other recent publications include “Judicial independence and political uncertainty” (with Olof Larsson) in International Organization (2016), “Speaking Law to Power” in Comparative Political Studies (with Olof Larsson, Mattias Derlén and Johan Lindholm), “Generosity in intergovernmental negotiations” in European Journal of Political Research (2015), “Try to see it my way!’ Frame congruence between lobbyists and European Commission officials” (with Frida Boräng) in Journal of European Public Policy (2015), “When does transparency generate legitimacy?” (with Jenny de Fine Licht, Peter Esaiasson and Mikael Gilljam) in Governance (2014), "Out in the Cold? Flexible Integration and the Political Status of Euro Opt Outs" (with Rutger Lindahl), which received the Sage Award for best article published in European Union Politics, Volume 11 (2010), and “Least common when most important. Deliberation in the EU Council of Ministers”, British Journal of Political Science (2010). For a full list of publications see my CV in the left hand panel.
Showing 61 - 70 of 102
Does transparency generate legitimacy? An experimental study of procedure acceptance of open- and closed-door decision-making”,
Jenny De Fine Licht, Daniel Naurin, Peter Esaiasson, Mikael Gilljam
Quality of Government Working Paper Series, Magazine article 2011
Magazine article
I Europamissionens tjänst: Vänbok till Rutger Lindahl
Claes G. Alvstam, Daniel Naurin, Birgitta Jännebring
Göteborg, University of Gothenburg, Edited book 2011
Edited book
Open Procedures and Public Legitimacy. An (incomplete) inventory of conditions and mechanisms.
Daniel Naurin, Jenny De Fine Licht
the workshop “Private and Public Debate and Voting, Collège de France, Paris 3-4 June, Conference contribution 2010
Conference contribution
And Consensus for all... Is the 'soft barganing' image of the Council of Ministers misleading?
Daniel Naurin
The ECPR Fifth Pan-European Conference on EU Politics, Porto, 23-26 June., Conference contribution 2010
Conference contribution
Transparency is not Enough. Making Transparency Effective in Reducing Corruption
Daniel Naurin, Catharina Lindstedt
International Political Science Review, Journal article 2010
Journal article
Most common when least important? Deliberation in the European Union Council of Ministers
Daniel Naurin
British Journal of Political Science, Journal article 2010
Journal article
Out in the cold? Flexible integration and the political status of Euro opt-outs
Rutger Lindahl, Daniel Naurin
European Union Politics, Journal article 2010
Journal article
Sverige kärnland i EU? | https://pol.gu.se/english/about-us/staff/?print=true&publicationPageNumber=7&selectedTab=2&languageId=100001&userId=xnauda&userName=Daniel+Naurin |
Lesión de Hombro
Workers engaged in heavy, manual work commonly suffer shoulder injuries. The injuries can vary in severity from muscle sprains, rotator cuff tears, torn ligaments, impingement, dislocated shoulder and fractures. Causes of shoulder injuries can be lifting heavy material and equipment, overhead work, blunt trauma. The shoulder injury may have been caused by one traumatic event or may be the result of cumulative trauma caused by repetitive use of the shoulder and upper extremity.
If you have a serious shoulder injury, it is important that you consult an appropriate medical specialist early in your treatment, usually an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder and upper extremity injuries. In order to diagnose your shoulder injury and prepare the appropriate medical treatment plan, your treating doctor may send you for an MRI.
Shoulder injuries may develop complications such as Adhesive Capsulitis or Frozen Shoulder, nerve damage and, in some cases, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (“RSD”). Also, it is common that workers, who suffer a shoulder injury to their dominant or major arm, may develop an injury to the opposite arm caused by repetitive use and overcompensating for the injured upper extremity. Treatment for shoulder injuries may include physical therapy, pain and anti-inflammatory medication, cortisone or steroid injections and surgery.
Depending on the person’s age and given the heavy nature of construction work, a worker who has suffered a severe shoulder injury may not be able to do construction work again. Once they reach a medical endpoint, they may be retrained to do light work in another field or, in some cases, apply for Social Security Disability (“SSDI”) benefits. | https://attorneysheehan.com/es/lesion-de-hombro/ |
Chelsea Langston Bombino is Director of Strategic Engagement at the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance.
The past four decades have witnessed a marked change in people’s understanding of their ethnic and religious identities. With that has come a shift in what individuals think of when they think of faith-based organizations, religious exercise, and religious freedom. Decades ago, language of “religious exercise” may have conjured images of WASP-y, middle-aged women singing in a church choir. Now, if I ask college students to describe an image that comes to mind when I say “religious exercise,” I get answers as varied as “A Native American wearing an eagle feather to a graduation,” or “A Muslim community center serving refugees,” or “A Sikh wearing a turban in the military.”
It is a good thing that many young people understand the inherent diversity of the ways in which individuals and organizations live out their most sacred beliefs and practices-- in public and in private. But increasing ethnic and religious diversity alone does not translate into increased tolerance for religious freedom for those individuals and institutions who have very different ways to answer the most basic religious questions. Few public opinion researchers and media voices are presenting the public with helpful approaches for the challenges of advancing the freedoms of peoples and institutions who strongly disagree in the pluralist public square.
With Americans only hearing about religious freedom in the narrow context of “birth control, baking, and bathrooms,” they miss the broader picture of religious freedom and of the immense social good performed by faith-based organizations. Last year, a significant study was released that quantifies the socio-economic impact of faith in America. The report, written by Brian and Melissa Grimm and published by the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, estimates that congregations, faith-based nonprofits, and faith-inspired businesses currently contribute 1.2 trillion dollars annually to American society, more than the ten biggest tech companies combined.
This report summarizes what many of us already know to be true. Daily, organizations that make up the diverse faith-based sector are providing housing to low-income families, serving senior citizens with dignity, advocating for foster youth, connecting people with disabilities to vocational training, empowering returning citizens to reintegrate into their communities, and so much more. The plurality of these faith-based organizations provides a tangible social good to diverse Americans with distinctive needs.
Think of an economically disadvantaged Orthodox Jewish family that needs supplemental nutrition assistance. They desire to honor God by keeping kosher, and they also want to feed their children. Distinctive and particularized organizations like kosher food banks meet both the spiritual and physical needs of a highly specific vulnerable people group. Or consider how more than a dozen local mosques stepped in after Hurricane Harvey to provide hundreds of people, of all religious backgrounds, with shelter. These diverse faith-based civil society institutions play a vital role in meeting both the particularized needs of specific populations and in serving their broader communities as a tenet of their faith.
Connecting Religious Freedom, the Sacred Sector, and the Social Safety Net
In this series, we define the social safety net as both government programs that contribute to the well-being of vulnerable communities, and the vast, diverse institutions of civil society, including faith-based and community-based groups that serve these communities as well. Creating the space for many institutions to make their unique contributions to the social safety net requires that the faith-based nonprofit sector--what we call the sacred sector—has the freedom for its institutions to serve and carry out their missions.
Faith-based organizations daily serve the most vulnerable neighbors among us. In our call to serve our neighbors, we must care about the freedom of faith-based organizations to do their work in their particular way. This series will highlight the good partnerships that the sacred sector has and can have with government and argues for preserving and advancing those partnerships to better serve the vulnerable.
This series will also present a framework that helps Christians to develop a holistic vision of religious freedom’s role in creating a strong social safety net. This vision certainly engages public policy questions, but it also calls us to account for our own personal and collective practices that are expressions of our faith. We must attend to the substance and tone of the language we use as it shapes discussion of how religious freedom affects the work of faith-based organizations who partner with government to provide distinct services and programs for the vulnerable among us.
The Social Safety Net: Why Government AND Civil Society Are Vital
What is government’s role in addressing the most pressing social problems of the most vulnerable within our political communities? This question does not have an easy answer. Even those of us who advocate for a public justice framework which insists on a positive, yet limited, role for government will have different boundaries on the extent of government involvement in addressing the opioid epidemic, or natural disaster relief, or health care for the most economically disadvantaged.
As Dan Carter wrote in a recent article for Shared Justice: “So why should the government and Christians support social programs? Those who advocate for these types of cuts [to entitlement programs] often cite how other institutions within civil society will step into the gap. While this is partially true, this argument overlooks the fact that local institutions are the recipients of a large proportion of this federal money in the form of grants.” In addition to place-based organizations, many partners in the social safety net are faith-based organizations from diverse and distinctive backgrounds.
I’d like to suggest four principles to help guide our understanding of how and why we uphold a robust partnership between government and FBOs and other nonprofits to support our care for the vulnerable:
- CPJ’s Guideline on Political Community focuses on why it is important to protect the freedom of religious organizations to fully live out their faith-based identities in how they operate, serve, and engage in the public square. We must not only protect the rights of individuals in a diverse society, but we must also advance the rights of diverse organizations with their distinctive missions and values. This is particularly important in any conversation about the social safety net in America. Our increasingly diverse society needs an increasingly diverse network of organizations to serve the particularized needs of its citizenry. One of the articles in this series will illustrate this further as it explores the unique and vital role that African American-led faith groups play in providing religiously and culturally relevant resources and services to support the health of black families.
- CPJ’s Guideline on Government focuses on the idea that God’s good purposes for government go beyond punishing crime and protecting our borders. Government rightly plays a role in affirmatively caring for our most vulnerable neighbors, often through partnering with diverse civil society organizations, including faith-based institutions. In this series, we will see how this principle is borne out in how government can partner with various community and religious groups to help address the opioid crisis.
- Religious freedom must apply to groups as well as individuals, and it must apply to non-explicitly religious activities, as well as religious acts like worship. CPJ’s Religious Freedom Guideline focuses on the importance of faith-based organizations preserving their religious identity and practices even as they participate in the social safety net in partnership with government. In this series, we will show how this principle applies when houses of worship are excluded from FEMA rebuilding grants following natural disasters solely because of their religious identity.
- CPJ’s Welfare Guideline emphasizes how government has a positive, yet limited role in fulfilling its responsibilities to the most vulnerable Americans. It can do this by protecting the abilities of various civil society institutions to meet diverse welfare needs, while also supporting the work of these institutions, both financially and otherwise. In this series, we will explore the innovative ways that government can serve the least among us by partnering with neighborhood and faith-based services providers, a prime example of which is federally qualified health clinics.
This series invites us to think about institutional religious freedom in a new way, and to connect this essential constitutional value to the flourishing of a robust social safety net made up of innovative and diverse partnerships between government and the sacred sector, as well as the larger nonprofit sector. It is a simple attempt to help shift the dialogue, and the assumptions, around religious freedom, even if very incrementally. We hope to equip readers to think about how religious freedom, viewed through the lens of principled pluralism, plays a vital role in undergirding the distinctiveness and diversity of civil society organizations that partner with government to form the social safety net. | https://www.cpjustice.org/public/public_justice_review/article/51 |
During our feasibility process, we assess all research proposals in-depth to ensure we meet the expectations and provide true estimates. Following a thorough site selection process, WCN delivers a balanced site list ensuring experience, quality, patient targets and investigator motivation.
Study coordination
Successfully conducting a clinical trial requires experienced, dedicated and flexible resources. At WCN, we understand the necessity of executing clinical trials within the pre-set timeframe and are organized accordingly. We ensure project engagement by means of a committed project manager and appointed study director, who are in collaboration with a research professional who acts as study-coordinator. This team supervises study progress and protocol adherence and mediates in case of any operational difficulties throughout the study.
Contract management is done centrally from the WCN office advancing the contract negotiation process and simplifying the investigator payments. WCN uses the national CTA template.
Education
In addition to the above services, we also offer our members online continuous learning GCP training courses (MyGCP/ GCP Central link). Please note that the courses are provided in Dutch. For an overview of the upcoming courses we refer to our Dutch website [link naar Pagina Scholingsaanbod] or invite you to contact us for more information about training opportunities. | https://wcn.life/our-services/industry-initiated-studies |
The first step is to create a title for the topic that you would like to research or explore. Don’t worry that the title is comprehensive or clever, this will not have any input into process. It’s just for you to title this particular search, so keep it short, simple and to the point.
Once you’ve created your title, generate a list of words, attributes, ideas, associations and descriptions that seem to be related to that general issue or topic that you chose. Freely write down and include anything you think of. For example, with the above subject matter of “how to get a girlfriend” you could write, things like “good looks, money, popularity, dating sites, intelligence, humor, difficult, easy” or anything else that comes to mind when you think about the subject. There is no right or wrong, and the less you censor your mind or worry about how to organize or structure your list, the more comprehensive your end results will be.
Note, 12 to 15 items is ideal. It’s okay if words seem redundant or unrelated. The more input you give, the more the program has to work with.
After you have completed your list, here is what will happen next: The program will begin to randomly pair words together from the list and display them for you. As this happens, you will be askedThe scale is divided into four levels, from "Have a strong relationship" to "Not really related". Select the level that you feel is the most appropriate.
VERY IMPORTANT: As you are selecting the degree to which the two words are related, you should do so relying on first reaction vs. thinking it through. In fact, you should not spend more than two seconds thinking about the answer. Selecting intuitively without thinking too much will ensure the most comprehensive data.
Pairs of words will continue to appear for you to assess. Continue to answer the questions as each combination appears.
Depending on how many words you input into your original list, there will be between 66 and 105 questions in all. Since each question should take less than two seconds to answer, the entire process should take about three to five minutes to complete.
Once all the questions have been answered, the data will automatically be sent to the server, correlated and the analysis results will appear right away.
Your instant report will be approximately a dozen pages, which includes a comprehensive overview explanation accompanied by an idea map detailing a deeper dive into the concepts that are driving the results from below the conscious thinking of the mind.
To give you a clear sense of how this works, let's take a look at the next page. ... | http://scanamind.com/howto.html |
In order to stay in business, shopping malls across the country must remain easily accessible to the public but still maintain a level of security that is in harmony with its purpose and operational requirements. Considering how many people visit shopping malls – over 190 million a month according to the International Council of Shopping Centers – maintaining a safe yet open environment requires a delicate balancing act by mall security.
Applications for key security and asset management are limited only by one’s imagination. In any situation where there is a need to control access to keys or other small valuables, a key security system can be deployed. One of the most common and practical implementations though is in the automotive industry.
Where security is concerned, there are no absolute safeguards. However, there are proven crime prevention techniques that can help improve the physical security and safeguarding of a facility or other valuable assets. The most common of these techniques is the implementation of a mechanical lock and key system, supported by a key control management system. | https://www.morsewatchmans.com/blog/topic/retail/page/2 |
The FIIN Workshops will be promoted by renowned national and international experts in the fields of nature photography and wildlife photography.
This workshop is an introduction to scientific illustration with emphasis on traditional (non-digital) methods and techniques with emphasis on watercolour technique.
It is intended for people over 12 years of age, with a desire to learn and practice biological science illustration.
Workshop registration is mandatory and limited to 15 participants.
10 and 11 November | 9:00 AM - 6:00 p.m.
In this workshop we intend to provide some tips on techniques of observing and drawing. If there is interest, these techniques will be applied by direct observation of natural models throughout watercolour painting. The first day will be dedicated to drawing and the second day to watercolour painting.
24 and 25 November | 9:00 AM - 6:00 p.m.
This workshop is dedicated to underwater photography. It will be focused on the approaches used in this type of photography as well as some of the most used imaging techniques.
This workshop aims to work on conservation through image.
During this workshop Daniel Beltrá will show the involved work from planning an image of nature until the moment of its accomplishment.
The purpose of this workshop is to teach in a theoretical and practical way, photographic creative techniques to make unique images with great visual impact.
– Changing the lens during a long exposure. | https://www.fiin.pt/en/workshops2018en/ |
Scientists looking very closely at the architecture of neuronal cells in the brain have discovered a key structural difference between primates and non-primates in cortical neurons – cells that are part of the brain.
The results give us greater insight into this most complex organ and how the shape and function of neurons can differ between species. We can also learn about human and animal evolution through research.
The key to this difference between neurons is the axonal fiber: a thin part of the neuron that carries electrical impulses. Previously, these axons were thought to almost always grow outside the cell body, but the new study shows they can also arise from dendrites – extensions that connect nerve cells together.
These axon-bearing dendrites are much more common in non-primates like cats and pigs than in primates, the team found. The study was based on existing tissue and archived specimens and included analysis of more than 34,000 individual neurons.
“A unique aspect of the project is that the team worked with archived tissue and slide preparations, which included material used for years to teach students,” says neurobiologist Petra Wahle, from Ruhr University. in Bochum, Germany.
The researchers looked at samples spanning mice, rats, pigs, cats, ferrets, macaque monkeys and humans. While dendrites bearing axons were found in all species, there were many more in non-primates.
A crucial part of the research has been the use of the latest high-resolution microscopy techniques to gain close insight into cell development, further illuminated by the use of five different staining methods on the cells studied.
“This allowed the detection of axonal origins to be tracked precisely at the micrometer level, which is sometimes not so easy with conventional light microscopy,” says Wahle.
Further research will be needed to understand why some species have a higher percentage of axon-bearing dendrites than others, and what their evolutionary advantage might be for animals that use them.
Neurons generally act as gatekeepers when it comes to deciding which signals are passed on and which are not, based on other inputs they also receive. This is called somatodendritic integration. One difference that axon-bearing dendrites seem to have is the ability to bypass this gate and independently choose the messages that flow through the brain network.
At this time, we don’t know exactly what this means for brain processing, but we should get more clues over time. The researchers found that domestication in animals did not appear to affect the number of these axon-bearing dendrites, with pigs and boars having similar proportions. Moreover, animals of various species seem to be born with them, rather than developing them as they age.
With so many neurons to monitor – tens of billions in some cases – the brain is not an easy part of the body to study, although that does not discourage scientists. We are continually learning more about how neurons are arranged and how they work.
“Our findings expand current knowledge regarding the distribution and proportion of axon-bearing dendritic cells in the neocortex of non-primate taxa, which are strikingly different from primates where these cells are found primarily in deeper layers and white matter,” write the researchers in their published paper.
The research has been published in eLife. | https://cialisd9z.com/scientists-discover-startling-neural-differences-between-primates-and-non-primates/ |
Alright, now that we've gone through human sight, how do we know that plants see?
And actually, I think most of you have seen plants responding to light.
Let's take a look at this movie right here.
What we have is a movie of bean seedlings.
That, every 12 hours, the light is being changed from one side to the other.
are starting to actually bend and follow where the sun is.
Here now they've gone back the other one way.
And in a second, they'll go back the other way.
and responding by growing and bending towards the light.
to study how plants respond to light and how they bend, was Charles Darwin.
of Darwin's research had to do with plant biology.
published in 1880, together with his son, Francis Darwin.
And what Darwin noticed, and here he was studying many types of plants.
a, a certain type of grass called canary grass.
only a very dim candle on one side of the room.
so dim that he couldn't even see the clock on the wall.
he came to the following conclusion, and this is in his own words.
petiole, or leaf, does not bend towards a lateral light.
will bend towards the light.
of nature, he was also an excellent experimentalist.
And Darwin asked the following question.
Where is the eye of the plant?
in order to allow it to bend towards it?
Of course we're not talking about human eyes here, is at the tip of the plant.
So what experiments could he do in order to test his hypothesis?
side, the plant, in this case the seedling, bends towards it.
His hypothesis was that it's the tip of the plant.
So the first thing he did, was he chopped off the tip.
can see here, the plant lost the ability to bend towards the light.
So what's the conclusion from such an experiment?
proves that the tip of the plant is what sees the light.
If I cut off your heads, you also lose the ability to see.
So we needed a few more experimental controls.
with a hat, with a cap, that was impermeable to light.
And in this case, the plant also didn't bend.
the tip of the plant is what's seeing the light?
heavy that it inhibits the plant from responding.
So, he did another control.
with a glass cap, which allowed light signals to go through.
And under this conditions, lo and behold, the plant does bend.
tip of the plant that senses the light signal.
this light signal, down to the bottom part of the plant.
And that's where the bending occurs.
So Darwin concluded that a signal moves from the tip to the base.
causing the latter to bend. Again, that's very verbose.
light, is transducing a signal to the lower part, which is causing it to bend.
So this isn't quite so different than what happens for us.
When I caught the baseball, my eyes sensed the light, and sent the signal to my hand.
of the plant to the part that's bending.
his own drawing The Power of Movement in Plants.
in the beginning of today's lecture, that plants can differentiate between colors.
And Sachs asked the question, can plants differentiate between different colors?
studied, will bend to blue light, but not to red light.
differentiate between different colors of light.
what would be the behavior, or the response, of a plant that's color blind? | https://zh-tw.coursera.org/lecture/plantknows/2-2-darwins-experiment-htfsj |
Excessively dry skin can put a great dampener on the overall appearance of the person. Dry skin lacks the glow and the sheen of normal skin.
It can become easily scratched and cracked, due to which there could be bruises on the skin even with slight frictions. Dry skin also loses its natural color.
For all these reasons, it is very necessary to get dry skin treated as soon as possible.
Dry skin is generally caused due to environmental conditions. It is observed in cold weather, when the climate is too dry and cool. Since the climate is dry, it absorbs the water content of the skin, due to which it becomes dry.
1. Aloe Vera (Aloe Vera): Aloe Vera replenishes the skin by providing the nutrients it lacks. Its extracts are used for massaging the skin.
2. Apple (Malus Domestica): Apple contains potassium and tannin which are both necessary to maintain the healthy texture of the skin. Apple not only removes the dryness of the skin, but also makes it appear shinier.
3. Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus): Cucumber is beneficial if the dryness is especially over the face. The juices of the cucumber have a cooling effect on the face. Also the juices provide the lost water content to the face and reduce its dryness.
4. Cook your food in a little fat. The food must not be totally dry.
5. If the dry skin is a result of cold weather, then eat foods that are heavy on the stomach. But do not use much spices.
6. If the dry skin is a result of hot weather, then eat light foods that are easy to digest. Use more fibers in the diet.
7. Sweet foods are good for dry skin.
8. Eat lots of fruits. Consume more of the sweet foods to build up the starch content in the skin.
9. The best condiments and spices to be used in the diet are cumin, coriander and turmeric. These soothe the skin.
10. Water is the most important part of the diet for correcting dry skin. About 7 to 8 glasses of water must be consumed in a day. But the water should be at room temperature.
11. Avoid alcohol and caffeine-containing beverages since they can make the skin drier.
12. In order to reduce the dryness of the skin, massage therapy must be used. Any herbal oil will do for the massage. Almond, avocado and olive oils are the best. The whole skin must be massaged and fingers must be used to dig deeper so as to pass the oil into the skin. After the massage, you must wait for about half an hour (keep the massaged skin exposed to the air if possible) and then go for a bath. The period helps the oil to permeate into the skin.
13. If the dryness is on the face, then make a paste of about a teaspoonful of rose water and two of honey. Smear this paste nicely on the face. Let it remain for a couple of minutes and then wash it off with slightly warm water.
14. Mayonnaise gives good results when applied on the dry skin and let be for some time.
15. An apple can be used for treating excessive dryness of the skin. Cut an apple in half and run its fleshy part on the skin. Apply a bit of pressure and squeeze the apple onto the skin to let its juices flow in.
16. Do not use tap water for washing the face. Tap water contains chloride ions which may harm the dry skin. Use mineral water instead. In a similar manner, do not use an ordinary soap on the skin. There are soaps available with moisturizers. Use them when having your bath.
Maintain a proper daily regimen. Try to get up at a fixed time each morning and go to bed at a fixed time. The adage ‘Early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy, wealth and wise’ is very true in the case of dry skin.
Regular exercise is also important. Exercise makes the blood circulate better, due to which the nutrients are transported to all parts of the body. This will make the skin moister.
Mankind has been coping with ailments since the beginning of its existent. Home remedies have often proved useful and passed along for many generations. Some home remedies have been improving and changing with current fashion.
Even though the medical field has developed a lot in the last century, we often see the home remedies to be the most effective solution. Some home remedies for dry skin, in particular, are known for their effectiveness.
Home remedies for dry skin are widespread mainly because they are not risky or dangerous nor are they expansive. So don’t spend your hard earned money on doctors.
Dry skin typically happens in most people during the winter season. Dryness typically occurs because your skin lacks moisture. This means that there is a lack of water in your skin.
In the past various magazines have suggested home remedies for dry skin like drinking at least eight glasses of water a day will cure this ailment. However, medical professionals have proven this home remedy false, this will basically keep your body hydrated, not your skin.
Instead, medical professionals suggest that the best way to re-hydrate the skin is to soak it in water, rather than take water in by mouth. Soaking for a short period of something like fifteen minutes in lukewarm water could put water back into the skin and help to ease the dryness.
Doctors also remind patients with dry skin that bathing everyday can be negative for their condition. In fact, patients with excessively dry skin must only bathe every other day in cooler water than normal.
Perhaps the most helpful thing a person may do at home for dry skin is to moisturize. Moisturizing skin with a moisturizing lotion will help immensely. The lubrication of the lotion will almost immediately be sucked into dry skin.
Moisturizing lotion put on the skin after a bath or shower will also help contain the moisture from the bath or shower in the skin. The moisturizing lotion will also work to moisturize by itself which gives your skin twice the hydration.
There are a number of home remedies for dry skin available for all. For people who have tried conventional medical products and have found that they did not work, home remedies for dry skin may be worth trying out.
There are a number of home remedy books available at most book stores that will likely hold even more home remedy ideas for dry skin. | https://familyezine.com/dry-skin-home-remedy.html |
---
abstract: |
A very classical subject in Commutative Algebra is the Invariant Theory of finite groups. In our work on $3$–dimensional topology [@KingIdeal2], we found certain examples of group actions on polynomial rings. When we tried to compute the invariant ring using <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> [@Singular] or <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> [@magma], it turned out that the existing algorithms did not suffice.
We present here a new algorithm for the computation of secondary invariants, if primary invariants are given. Our benchmarks show that the implementation of our algorithm in the library `finvar` of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> [@Singular] marks a dramatic improvement in the manageable problem size. A particular benefit of our algorithm is that the computation of *irreducible* secondary invariants does not involve the explicit computation of *reducible* secondary invariants, which may save resources.
The implementation of our algorithm in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> is for the non-modular case; however, the key theorem of our algorithm holds in the modular case as well and might be useful also there.\
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Keywords:</span> Invariant Ring, Secondary Invariant, irreducible Secondary Invariant, Gröbner basis.\
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">MSC:</span> 13A50 (primary), 13P10 (secondary)
address: |
Simon A. King\
Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach\
Schwarzwaldstr. 9–11\
D-77709 Oberwolfach\
Germany
author:
- 'Simon A. King'
title: Fast Computation of Secondary Invariants
---
Introduction
============
Let $G$ be a finite group, linearly acting on a polynomial ring $R$ with $n$ variables over some field $K$. We denote the action of $g\in G$ on $r\in R$ by $g.r\in R$.
Let $R^G=\{r\in R\co g.r=r,\; \forall g\in G\}$ be the invariant ring. Obviously, it is a sub-algebra of $R$, and one would like to compute generators for $R^G$. We study here the [**non-modular**]{} case, i.e., the characteristic of $K$ does not divide the order of $G$. Note that according to [@Kemper], algorithms for the non-modular case are useful also in the modular case.
For any subset $S\subset R$, we denote by ${\langle\langle}S{\rangle\rangle}\subset R$ the sub-algebra generated by $S$, and by $\langle S\rangle\subset R$ the ideal generated by $S$. It is well known [@Eisenbud] that there are $n$ (the number of variables) algebraically independent homogeneous invariant polynomials $P=\{p_1,...,p_n\}\subset R^G$ such that $R^G$ is a finitely generated $\langle\langle P\rangle\rangle$–module. The elements of $P$ are called [**primary invariants**]{}. Of course, they are not uniquely determined. There are various algorithms to compute primary invariants [@Kemper]. Since the primary invariants are algebraically independent, the sub-algebra ${\langle\langle}P{\rangle\rangle}$ is isomorphic to a polynomial ring with $n$ variables. It is called [**(homogeneous) Noetherian normalization**]{} of $R^G$.
Let $S\subset R^G$ be a minimal set of homogeneous $\langle\langle P\rangle\rangle$–module generators of $R^G$. The elements of $S$ are called [**secondary invariants**]{}. Note that the number of secondary invariants depends on the degrees of the primary invariants. Hence, it is advisable to minimize the degrees of the primary invariants. [**Irreducible**]{} secondary invariants are those non-constant secondary invariants that can not be written as a polynomial expression in the primary invariants and the other secondary invariants. The set of secondary invariants is not unique, even if one fixes the primary invariants. It is easy to see that one can choose secondary invariants so that all of them are [power products]{} of irreducible secondary invariants.
The aim of this paper is to present a new algorithm for the computation of (irreducible) homogeneous secondary invariants, if homogeneous primary invariants $P$ are given. The key theorem for our algorithm concerns *Gröbner bases* and holds in arbitrary characteristic; however, the algorithm assumes that we are in the [non-modular]{} case. For simplicity, we even assume that $K$ is of characteristic $0$, but this is not crucial.
The rest of this paper is organised as follows. In Section \[sec:motivation\], we briefly expose our motivating examples arising in low-dimensional topology. In the Section \[sec:basic\], we recall the basic scheme for computing secondary invariants. In Section \[sec:irred\_secondary\], we state our key result and formulate our new algorithm for the computation of (irreducible) secondary invariants. In Section \[sec:benchmark\], we provide some examples (partially inspired by our study of problems in low-dimensional topology) and compare the implementation of our algorithm in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> [@Singular] with previously implemented algorithms in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> by A. Heydtmann [@Heydtmann] respectively in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> [@magma] by A. Steel [@KemperSteel].
Motivating examples {#sec:motivation}
===================
The starting point of our work was the study of generalisations of *Turaev–Viro invariants* [@KingIdeal1], [@KingIdeal2]. These are homeomorphism invariants of compact $3$–dimensional manifolds. Their construction is (with some simplifications) as follows. Let $\mathcal F$ be some finite set, and let $\mathcal T$ be a triangulation of a compact $3$–manifold $M$. An $\mathcal F$–colouring of $\mathcal T$ assigns to any edge of $\mathcal T$ an element of $\mathcal F$. Tetrahedra have six edges. So, for any tetrahedron of $\mathcal T$, an $\mathcal F$–colouring of $\mathcal T$ gives rise to a six-tuple of colours, that is called *$6j$–symbol* and denoted by ${\left|\begin{smallmatrix} a & b & c\\
f & e & d
\end{smallmatrix}\right|}$, for $a,b,c,d,e,f\in\mathcal F$. The equivalence classes of $6j$–symbols with respect to tetrahedral symmetry are variables of some polynomial ring, $R$. The ring also contains one variable $w_f$ for any $f\in\mathcal F$, called the *weight* of $f$. For any $\mathcal F$–colouring, we form the product over the weights of the coloured edges and over the $6j$–symbols of the coloured tetrahedra of $\mathcal T$. By summation over all possible $\mathcal F$–colourings of $\mathcal T$, we obtain a polynomial $TV(\mathcal T)$ called the *state sum* of $\mathcal T$. Due to the tetrahedral symmetry of the $6j$–symbols, the state sum is well-defined. However, it depends on the choice of $\mathcal T$ rather than on the homeomorphism type of $M$. It was shown by V. Turaev and O. Viro [@TuraevViro] that an appropriate evaluation of the state sum (yield by the representation theory of Quantum Groups) is independent of the choice of $\mathcal T$. This is called a Turaev–Viro invariant.
In [@KingIdeal1] and [@KingIdeal2], we define an ideal $I\subset R$, the *Turaev–Viro ideal*. We show that the coset $tv(M) = TV(\mathcal T) + I$ is independent of $\mathcal T$, hence, a homeomorphism invariant of $M$. This generalises the classical Turaev–Viro invariants. By extensive computations, we show in [@KingIdeal2] that these so-called *ideal Turaev–Viro invariants* are much stronger than the classical Turaev–Viro invariants. For this, it was necessary to compute Gröbner bases of Turaev–Viro ideals. It turns out that different algorithms for the computation of Gröbner bases differ widely in their performance. The algorithm `slimgb` in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> [@Singular] of M. Brickenstein [@Brickenstein] performs particularly well.
We obtain a lower bound for the number of tetrahedra of any triangulation of $M$, in terms of the minimal degree of polynomials in the coset $tv(M)$. However, in our computations, the bound appears to be trivial [@KingIdeal2]. There was some hope to improve the lower bound as follows, using computations of invariant rings. Let $G$ be the symmetric group of $\mathcal F$. In the obvious way, $G$ acts on the tetrahedral symmetry classes of $6j$–symbols and on the weights, and hence, on $R$. The $G$–action permutes the summands of the state sum. So, the state sum belongs to $R^G$. Let $I^G=I \cap R^G$. Obviously, if $\mathcal T$ is a triangulation of some compact $3$–manifold $M$, then the coset $tv^G(M)=TV(\mathcal T)+I^G\subset R^G$ is a homeomorphism invariant of $M$, and as such in fact equivalent to $tv(M)$. However, since $tv^G(M)\subset tv(M)$, there is some hope that the minimal degree of polynomials in the coset $tv^G(M)$ is higher than in $tv(M)$, which would provide stronger bounds for the number of tetrahedra.
This is how we became interested in the computation of invariant rings. The existing implementations in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> and <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> could not compute the secondary invariants in several of our examples. This motivated us to develop a new algorithm for the computation of secondary invariants. It has been part of the `finvar` library of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> [@Singular] since release 3-0-2 (July 2006). Unfortunately, in our topological applications, we did not find an improvement of the lower bound for the number of tetrahedra. However, our new algorithm for the computation of secondary invariants certainly is of independent interest.
Generalities on the computation of secondary invariants {#sec:basic}
=======================================================
In the non-modular case, we can use the Reynolds operator $\mathrm{Rey}\co R\to R^G$, which is defined by $$\mathrm{Rey}(r) = \frac 1{|G|}\sum_{g\in G} g.r$$ for $r\in R$. By construction, the restriction of the Reynolds operator to $R^G$ is the identity. Let $B_d\subset R^G$ be the images under the Reynolds operator of all monomials of $R$ of degree $d$. It is well known that one can find a system of homogeneous secondary invariants of degree $d$ in $B_d$ [@Sturmfels]. But how can one determine what elements of $B_d$ are eligible as secondary invariants?
Let $S_0,S_1,S_2,...,S_{d-1}\subset R^G$ be the homogeneous secondary invariants of degree $0,1,2,...,d-1$, respectively (we can take $S_0=\{1\}$), and let $IS_i\subset S_i$ be the irreducible ones, for $i=1,...,d-1$. Let $s_1,...,s_m\in R^G$ be some homogeneous secondary invariants of degree $d$. Let $b\in B_d$. We can choose $b$ as a new homogeneous secondary invariant of $R^G$, if $b$ is not contained in the ${\langle\langle}P{\rangle\rangle}$–module generated by $S_0\cup S_1\cup \cdots \cup S_{d-1}\cup \{s_1,...,s_m\}$. It is not difficult to show that this is the case if and only if $b$ is not contained in the *ideal* $\langle P\cup \{s_1,...,s_m\}\rangle\subset R$; see [@Sturmfels].
Ideal membership can be tested using *Gröbner bases*. For $p\in R$ and a finite subset $\mathcal G\subset R$, we denote the [**remainder**]{} of $p$ by reduction modulo $\mathcal G$ by $\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)$. The remainder is iteratively defined, depends on the choice of a monomial order, and in general depends on the order of the elements of $\mathcal G$. For a definition of remainder, of Gröbner bases, and for a proof of the following classical result, we refer to [@Froberg] or [@KreuzerRobbiano].
\[thm:idealmembership\] Let $\mathcal G$ be a Gröbner basis of $\langle \mathcal G\rangle\subset R$, and let $p\in R$. Then, $\mathrm{rem}(p;\mathcal G)$ does not depend on the order of polynomials in $\mathcal G$, and we have $\mathrm{rem}(p;\mathcal G)=0$ if and only if $p\in\langle \mathcal G\rangle$.
We thus obtain the following very basic algorithm for finding homogeneous secondary invariants $S_d$ of degree $d$, provided those of smaller degrees have been computed before.\
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Basic Algorithm</span>
1. Let $S_d=\emptyset$. Let $\mathcal G$ be a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\rangle$.
2. For all $b\in B_d$:\
If $b\not\in \langle P\cup S_d\rangle$ (which is tested by reduction modulo $\mathcal G$) then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$; compute a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\cup S_d\rangle$ and replace $\mathcal G$ with it.
3. Return $S_d$.
There are several ways to improve this algorithm. One way is an application of Molien’s Theorem [@Sturmfels], [@Kemper], [@Heydtmann]. We will not go into details here. Molien’s Theorem allows to compute the number $m_d$ of secondary invariants of degree $d$. In other words, if in the above algorithm we got $m_d$ secondary invariants, we can immediately break the loop in Step (2).
We also would like to see which of the secondary invariants in $S_d$ are irreducible, since these, together with $P$, generate $R^G$ as a sub-algebra of $R$. For that purpose, one forms all power products of degree $d$ of elements of $IS_1\cup IS_2\cup \cdots \cup IS_{d-1}$ and chooses from them as many secondary invariants as possible (compare [@Heydtmann] or [@Kemper]). If there are further secondary invariants (which we know from computation of $m_d$), then one proceeds as above with $B_d$, and obtains all *irreducible* secondary invariants $IS_d$ of degree $d$. So, the algorithm is as follows.\
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Refined Algorithm</span>
1. Compute $m_d$. Let $S_d=IS_d=\emptyset$ and let $\mathcal G$ be a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\rangle$.
2. For all power products $b$ of degree $d$ of elements of $IS_1\cup IS_2\cup \cdots \cup IS_{d-1}$:
1. If $b\not \in \langle P\cup S_d\rangle$ (which is tested using $\mathcal G$) then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$; compute a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\cup S_d\rangle$ and replace $\mathcal G$ with it.
2. If $|S_d|=m_d$ then break and return $(S_d,IS_d)$.
3. For all $b\in B_d$:
1. If $b\not \in \langle P\cup S_d\rangle$ (which is tested using $\mathcal G$) then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$, and $IS_d$ by $IS_d\cup \{b\}$; compute a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\cup S_d\rangle$ and replace $\mathcal G$ with it.
2. If $|S_d|=m_d$ then break and return $(S_d,IS_d)$.
Eventually, $S_d$ contains homogeneous secondary invariants of degree $d$, and $IS_d$ contains the irreducible ones. In this form, the algorithm has been implemented in 1998 by A. Heydtmann [@Heydtmann] as the procedure `secondarychar0` of the library `finvar` of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span>. In Step (2), the ideal membership is tested by computing the remainder modulo some Gröbner basis of the ideal. This ideal changes once a new secondary invariant has been found. So, the algorithm involves many Gröbner basis computations. This is its main disadvantage and limits the applicability of the Basic and the Refined Algorithm.
An alternative algorithm was proposed by Kemper and Steel (see [@Kemper], [@KemperSteel] or [@DerksenKemper]) and implemented in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> [@magma]. Here, new secondary invariants are detected not by a general solution of the ideal membership problem but by Linear Algebra. This algorithm only involves one Gröbner basis computation, namely for the ideal $\langle P\rangle$. But for computing some of the invariant rings that arise in our study of homeomorphism invariants of $3$–dimensional manifolds [@KingIdeal2], this does not suffice either.
The New Algorithm {#sec:irred_secondary}
=================
The main feature of our new algorithm is that, after computing some (homogeneous) Gröbner basis of $\langle P\rangle$, we can directly write down a *homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$* of $\langle P\cup S_d\rangle$, once a new secondary invariant of degree $d$ has been found. We can do so whithout any lengthy computations (in contrast to [@Heydtmann]), and we also avoid to deal with huge systems of linear equations (in contrast to [@KemperSteel], [@Kemper], [@DerksenKemper]). This allows to solve the ideal membership problem in a very quick way. We recall the notion of homogeneous Gröbner bases up to degree $d$ in the following paragraphs. At the end of the section, we provide our key theorem and formulate our new algorithm.
For $p\in R$, let $lm(p)$ the [**leading monomial**]{} of $p$, let $lc(p)$ be the coefficient of $lm(p)$ in $p$, and let $lt(p)=lc(p)lm(p)$ be the [**leading term**]{} of $p$. The least common multiple is denoted by $LCM(\cdot,\cdot)$. Now we can recall the definition of the [**$S$–polynomial**]{} of $p,q\in R$: $$S(p,q) = \frac{LCM(lm(p),lm(q))}{lt(p)} p - \frac{LCM(lm(p),lm(q))}{lt(q)} q$$ Obviously, the $S$–polynomial of $p$ and $q$ belongs to the ideal $\langle p,q\rangle\subset R$. The leading terms of $p$ and $q$ are canceling one another, so, the leading monomial of $S(p,q)$ corresponds to monomials of $p$ or $q$ that are not leading. The following result can be found, e.g., in [@Froberg] or [@KreuzerRobbiano].
\[thm:buchberger\] A set $g_1,...,g_k\in R$ of polynomials is a Gröbner basis of the ideal $\langle g_1,...,g_k\rangle\subset R$ if and only if $\mathrm{rem}\left(S(g_i,g_j); g_1,...,g_k\right) = 0$ for all $i,j=1,...,k$.
Buchberger’s Criterion directly leads to Buchberger’s algorithm for the construction of a Gröbner basis of an ideal: One starts with any generating set of the ideal. If the remainder modulo the generators of the $S$–polynomial of some pair of generators does not vanish, then the remainder is added as a new generator. This will be repeated until all $S$–polynomials reduce to $0$; it can be shown that this will eventually be the case, after finitely many steps.
Here, we are in a special situation: We work with homogeneous polynomials. It is easy to see that if $p$ and $q$ are homogeneous then so is $S(p,q)$, and its degree is higher than the maximum of the degrees of $p$ and $q$, unless $lm(p)=lm(q)$. If $p, g_1,g_2,...,g_k\in R$ are homogeneous then so is $\mathrm{rem}(p;g_1,...,g_k)$. Moreover, either $\mathrm{rem}(p;g_1,...,g_k)= 0$ or $\deg\left(\mathrm{rem}(p;g_1,...,g_k)\right)
= \deg (p)$. For computing $\mathrm{rem}(p;g_1,...,g_k)$, only those $g_i$ play a role with $\deg(g_i)\le \deg(p)$, for $i=1,...,k$. It follows: If an ideal $I\subset R$ is homogeneous (i.e., it can be generated by homogeneous polynomials) then it has a Gröbner basis of homogeneous polynomials. Such a Gröbner basis can be constructed degree-wise.
A finite set $\{g_1,...,g_k\}\subset R$ of homogeneous polynomials is a [**homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$**]{} of the ideal $\langle g_1,...,g_k\rangle$, if $$\mathrm{rem}\left(S(g_i,g_j); g_1,...,g_k\right) = 0$$ or $\deg\left(S(g_i,g_j)\right)>d$, for all $i,j=1,...,k$.
\[lem:idealmembership\] Let $\{g_1,...,g_k\}\subset R$ be a homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$, and let $p\in R$ be a homogeneous polynomial of degree at most $d$. Then, $p\in\langle g_1,...,g_k\rangle$ if and only if $\mathrm{rem}\left(p;g_1,...,g_k\right) =0$.
The paragraph preceding the definition implies that $\{g_1,...,g_k\}$ can be extended to a Gröbner basis $\mathcal G$ of $\langle g_1,...,g_k\rangle$ by adding homogeneous polynomials whose degrees exceed $d$. Since $\deg(p)\le d$, we have $\mathrm{rem}(p;\mathcal G)=\mathrm{rem}(p;g_1,...,g_k)$. Since $p\in\langle \mathcal G\rangle$ if and only if $\mathrm{rem}(p;\mathcal G)=0$ by Theorem \[thm:idealmembership\], the result follows.
We see that in order to do Step (2) in the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Basic Algorithm</span> (or the corresponding steps in the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Refined Algorithm</span>) it suffices to know a homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$ of $\langle P\cup S_d\rangle$. Our key theorem states that this Gröbner basis can be constructed iteratively, as follows.
\[thm:keythm\] Let $\mathcal G\subset R$ be a homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$ of $\langle \mathcal G\rangle$. Let $p\in R$ be a homogeneous polynomial of degree $d$, and $p\not\in \langle \mathcal G\rangle$. Then $\mathcal G\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(p;\mathcal G)\}$ is a homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$ of $\langle \mathcal G\cup\{p\}\rangle$.
Let $r=\mathrm{rem}(p;\mathcal G)$. Since $p\not\in \langle \mathcal G\rangle$ and all polynomials are homogeneous, we have $r\not=0$, $\deg(r)=d$, and $\langle \mathcal G\cup\{p\}\rangle = \langle \mathcal G\cup
\{r\}\rangle$.
By hypothesis, the $S$–polynomials of pairs of elements of $\mathcal G$ are of degree $>d$ or reduce to $0$ modulo $\mathcal G$. We now consider the $S$–polynomials of $r$ and elements of $\mathcal G$. Let $g\in \mathcal G$. By definition of the remainder, we have $lm(r) \not= lm(g)$. Therefore the $S$–polynomial of $r$ and $g$ is of degree $>d=\deg(r)$. Thus the claim follows.
We obtain the\
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">New Algorithm</span>
1. Compute $m_d$ and a homogeneous Gröbner basis $\mathcal G$ of $\langle P\rangle$. Let $S_d=IS_d=\emptyset$.
2. For all power products $b$ of degree $d$ of elements of $IS_1\cup IS_2\cup \cdots \cup IS_{d-1}$:
1. If $\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)<>0$ then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$ and $\mathcal G$ by $\mathcal G\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)\}$.
2. If $|S_d|=m_d$ then break and return $(S_d,IS_d)$.
3. For all $b\in B_d$:
1. If $\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)<>0$ then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$, $IS_d$ by $IS_d\cup \{b\}$ and $\mathcal G$ by $\mathcal G\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)\}$.
2. If $|S_d|=m_d$ then break and return $(S_d,IS_d)$.
By Theorem \[thm:keythm\] and induction, $\mathcal G$ is a homogeneous Gröbner basis up to degree $d$ of $\langle P\cup S_d\rangle$. Hence, in Step (2)(a) and (3)(a) one has $\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)<>0$ if and only if $b\not\in \langle P\cup S_d\rangle$. The <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">New Algorithm</span> is a dramatic improvement of the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Refined Algorithm</span>. However, in our examples this was still not enough.
One should take more care in Step (2) of the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">New Algorithm</span>. It simply says For all power products $b$ of degree $d$ of elements of $IS_1\cup IS_2\cup \cdots \cup IS_{d-1}$. Two questions arise:
1. How shall one generate the power products?
2. Is it necessary to generate *all* possible power products, or can one restrict the search?
In very complex computations, the number of power products is gigantic. But usually only a small proportion of them will be eligible as secondary invariant. So, for saving computer’s memory, it is advisable to generate the power products one after the other (or in small packages), rather than generating all power products at once; this answers Question (1).
Apparently Question (2) was never addressed in the literature. However, it turns out that a careful choice of power products provides another dramatic improvement of the performance of the algorithm. Our choice is based on the following lemma. This lemma seems to be well known, but to the best of the author’s knowledge it did not appear in the literature and it was not used in implementations.
\[lem:RestrictChoice\] Assume that secondary invariants of degree $<d$ are computed such that all of them are power products of irreducible secondary invariants. In the quest for reducible homogeneous secondary invariants of degree $d$, it suffices to consider power products of the form $i\cdot s$, where $i$ is a homogeneous irreducible secondary invariant of degree $<d$, and $s$ is some secondary invariant of degree $d-\deg(i)$.
Let $p\in R$ be a power product of degree $d$ of irreducible secondary invariants. Hence, it can be written as $p=iq$, with an irreducible homogeneous secondary invariant $i$ of degree $<d$ and some homogeneous $G$–invariant polynomial $q$ of degree $d-\deg (i)$ (we do not use that $q$ is a power product of irreducible secondary invariants).
Recall that the secondary invariants generate the invariant ring as a ${\langle\langle}P{\rangle\rangle}$–module. Hence one can rewrite $q = q_0 + k_1s_1+\cdots + k_ts_t$, where $q_0\in\langle P\rangle$, $k_1,...,k_t\in K$, and $s_1,...s_t$ are homogeneous secondary invariants of degree $\deg(q)$. We obtain $p=iq_0 + k_1(is_1)+\cdots + k_t(is_t)$. Hence, rather than chosing $p$ as a ${\langle\langle}P{\rangle\rangle}$–module generator of $R^G$, we may choose $is_1,...,is_t$, which, by induction, are all power products of irreducible secondary invariants.
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Improved New Algorithm</span>
1. Compute $m_d$. Let $\mathcal G$ be a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\rangle$. Let $S_d=IS_d=\emptyset$.
2. For all products $b=i\cdot s$ with $i\in IS_1\cup\cdots IS_{d-1}$ and $s\in S_{d-\deg(i)}$:
1. If $\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)\not=0$ then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$ and $\mathcal G$ by $\mathcal G\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)\}$.
2. If $|S_d|=m_d$ then break and return $(S_d,IS_d)$.
3. For all $b\in B_d$:
1. If $\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)\not=0$ then replace $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{b\}$, $IS_d$ by $IS_d\cup \{b\}$ and $\mathcal G$ by $\mathcal G\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G)\}$.
2. If $|S_d|=m_d$ then break and return $(S_d,IS_d)$.
This is the algorithm that is implemented as `secondarychar0` in the library `finvar` of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> 3-0-2 [@Singular], released in Juli 2006. In Step (2), the secondary invariant $s$ may be a non-trivial powerproduct itself, hence, can be expressed as $s=i_ss'$, where $i_s$ is an irreducible secondary invariant and $s'$ is (by induction) some other secondary invariant. Of course one should consider only one of the two products $i_s(is')$ and $i(i_ss')$ in the enumeration.
Often one is only interested in the irreducible secondary invariants, which, together with the primary invariants, generate the invariant ring as a sub-algebra. Therefore we implemented yet another version of the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Improved New Algorithm</span> in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> 3-0-2, namely `irredsecondarychar0`. This algorithm computes irreducible secondary invariants, but does not explicitely compute the reducible secondary invariants. That works as follows.
Let $\mathcal G_P$ be a Gröbner basis of $\langle P\rangle$. In Step (2)(a) of the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Improved New Algorithm</span>, one replaces $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G_P)\}$, rather than by $S_d\cup \{b\}$. In Step (3)(a) one replaces $S_d$ by $S_d\cup \{\mathrm{rem}(b;\mathcal G_P)\}$ and $IS_d$ by $IS_d\cup\{b\}$. In the end, $S_d$ does not contain secondary invariants, but *normal forms* of secondary invariants with respect to $\mathcal G_P$. Since $\mathrm{rem}\left(\mathrm{rem}(p_1;\mathcal G_P)\cdot\mathrm{rem}(p_2;\mathcal G_P);
\mathcal G_P\right) = \mathrm{rem}(p_1\cdot p_2;\mathcal G_P)$ and since a reduction modulo $\mathcal G$ in Steps (2)(a) and (3)(a) also comprises a reduction modulo $\mathcal G_P$, this maintains all informations that one needs for determining how many secondary invariants are reducible in Step (2) and for finding the irreducible secondary invariants in Step (3). So in the end, $IS_d$ contains the irreducible secondary invariants in degree $d$. This detail of our implementation very often saves much memory and computation time, as can be seen in Table \[tab:bench\] in Examples (1) and (6)–(9). In Example (8), we can compute the irreducible secondary invariants although the computation of all 31104 secondary invariants exceeds the resources.
An example of Kemper (example (9) in the next Section) motivated us to further refine the implementation of the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Improved New Algorithm</span>. It concerns the generation of $B_d$: If there are irreducible secondary invariants in rather high degrees $d$ (in Kemper’s example, there are two irreducible secondary invariants of degree $9$), it is advisable to generate not all of $B_d$ at once, but in small portions. This will be part of release 3-0-3 of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span>.
Benchmark Tests for the Computation of Invariant Rings {#sec:benchmark}
======================================================
The Test Examples
-----------------
We already mentioned that some of our test examples arise in low-dimensional topology. This yields Examples (1), (7) and (8). For background information, see [@KingIdeal2]. We will not go into details here, but just provide the matrices and primary invariants of our nine test examples. They are roughly ordered by increasing computation time. The ring variables are called $x_1,x_2,...$. Let $e_i$ be the column vector with $1$ in position $i$ and $0$ otherwise. Our focus was not on the computation of primary invariants; note that in various examples the primary invariants are not optimal.
1. A $13$–dimensional representation of the symmetric group $S_2$ is given by the matrix $$M = \left(e_{2}e_{1}e_{13}e_{12}e_{11}e_{8}e_{10}e_{6}e_{9}e_{7}e_{5}e_{4}e_{3}\right)
$$ Our primary invariants are $$\begin{aligned}
&&x_{9},\;\;x_{7}+x_{10},\;\;x_{6}+x_{8},\;\;x_{5}+x_{11},\;\;
x_{4}+x_{12},\;\;x_{3}+x_{13},\\ &&x_1+x_2,\;\;x_{3}x_{13},\;\;
x_{4}x_{12},\;\;x_{5}x_{11},\;\;x_{7}x_{10},\;\;x_{6}x_{8},\;\;x_1x_2
\end{aligned}$$ There are 32 secondary invariants of maximal degree $6$, among which are $15$ irreducible secondary invariants up to degree $2$.
2. A $6$–dimensional representation of $S_4$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{1}e_{4}e_{5}e_{2}e_{3}e_{6}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{4}e_{1}e_{5}e_{2}e_{6}e_{3}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are $$\begin{aligned}
&&x_3+x_5+x_6,\;\;x_1+x_2+x_4,\;\;x_3x_5+x_3x_6+x_5x_6,\\
&&x_3x_4+x_2x_5+x_1x_6,\;\; x_1x_2x_4,\;\;
x_1^3x_2^3+x_1^3x_4^3+x_2^3x_4^3+x_3^2x_5^2x_6^2
\end{aligned}$$ There are $12$ secondary invariants of maximal degree $9$, among which are $4$ irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree $3$.
3. A $6$–dimensional representation of the alternating group $A_4$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{4}e_{1}e_{5}e_{2}e_{6}e_{3}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{2}e_{3}e_{1}e_{6}e_{4}e_{5}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are $$\begin{aligned}
&& x_1+x_2+x_3+x_4+x_5+x_6,\;\;
x_3x_4+x_2x_5+x_1x_6,\\
&& x_1x_2+x_1x_3+x_2x_3+x_1x_4+x_2x_4+x_1x_5+x_3x_5\\
&& \qquad\mbox{} +x_4x_5+x_2x_6+x_3x_6+x_4x_6+x_5x_6,\\
&& x_3^2x_4+x_3x_4^2+x_2^2x_5+x_2x_5^2+x_1^2x_6+x_1x_6^2,\\
&& x_1x_2x_4+x_1x_3x_5+x_2x_3x_6+x_4x_5x_6, \\
&& x_1^2x_2^4+x_1^4x_3^2+x_2^2x_3^4+x_1^4x_4^2+x_2^2x_4^4\\
&& \qquad\mbox{}+x_3^4x_5^2+x_4^4x_5^2+x_1^2x_5^4+x_2^4x_6^2+x_5^4x_6^2+x_3^2x_6^4+x_4^2x_6^4
\end{aligned}$$ There are 18 secondary invariants of maximal degree 11, among which are 8 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 5.
4. A $6$–dimensional representation of the dihedral group $D_6$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{6}e_{5}e_{4}e_{3}e_{2}e_{1}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{3}e_{1}e_{2}e_{6}e_{4}e_{5}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are the elementary symmetric polynomials. There are 120 secondary invariants of maximal degree 14, among which are 10 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 4.
5. A $8$–dimensional representation of $D_8$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{8}e_{7}e_{6}e_{5}e_{4}e_{3}e_{2}e_{1}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{4}e_{1}e_{2}e_{3}e_{8}e_{5}e_{6}e_{7}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are $$\begin{aligned}
&&x_1+x_2+x_3+x_4+x_5+x_6+x_7+x_8,\\
&&x_4x_5+x_1x_6+x_2x_7+x_3x_8,\;\;
x_3x_5+x_4x_6+x_1x_7+x_2x_8,\\
&&x_2x_5+x_3x_6+x_4x_7+x_1x_8,\;\;
x_1x_5+x_2x_6+x_3x_7+x_4x_8,\\
&&x_1x_3+x_2x_4+x_5x_7+x_6x_8,\;\;
x_1x_2x_3x_4+x_5x_6x_7x_8,\\
&&x_1x_2^3+x_2x_3^3+x_1^3x_4+x_3x_4^3
+x_5^3x_6+x_6^3x_7+x_7^3x_8+x_5x_8^3
\end{aligned}$$ There are 64 secondary invariants of maximal degree 11, among which are 24 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 5.
6. A $7$–dimensional representation of $D_{14}$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{2}e_{3}e_{4}e_{5}e_{6}e_{7}e_{1}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{1}e_{7}e_{6}e_{5}e_{4}e_{3}e_{2}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are the elementary symmetric polynomials. There are 360 secondary invariants of maximal degree 18, among which are 19 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 7.
7. A $15$–dimensional representation of $S_3$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{2}e_{1}e_{3}e_{4}e_{7}e_{14}e_{5}e_{8}e_{11}e_{13}e_{9}e_{15}e_{10}e_{6}e_{12}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{1}e_{3}e_{2}e_{4}e_{5}e_{9}e_{8}e_{7}e_{6}e_{13}e_{12}e_{11}e_{10}e_{15}e_{14}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are $$\begin{aligned}
&& x_{1}+x_{2}+x_{3},\;\;x_{1}x_{2}+x_{1}x_{3}+x_{2}x_{3},\;\;x_{1}x_{2}x_{3},\\
&& x_{10}+x_{13},\;\;x_{10}x_{13},\;\;x_{6}+x_{9}+x_{11}+x_{12}+x_{14}+x_{15},\\
&& x_{11}x_{12}+x_{6}x_{14}+x_{9}x_{15},\;\;x_{9}x_{11}+x_{6}x_{12}+x_{14}x_{15},\\
&& x_{6}x_{11}+x_{9}x_{12}+x_{9}x_{14}+x_{12}x_{14}+x_{6}x_{15}+x_{11}x_{15},\\
&& x_{6}x_{9}x_{14}+x_{6}x_{11}x_{14}+x_{11}x_{12}x_{14}+x_{6}x_{9}x_{15}
+x_{9}x_{12}x_{15}+x_{11}x_{12}x_{15},\\
&& x_{6}^6+x_{9}^6+x_{11}^6+x_{12}^6+x_{14}^6+x_{15}^6,\;\;x_{4},\;\;x_{5}+x_{7}+x_{8},\\
&& x_{5}x_{7}+x_{5}x_{8}+x_{7}x_{8},\;\;x_{5}x_{7}x_{8}
\end{aligned}$$ There are 1728 secondary invariants of maximal degree 17, among which are 76 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 4.
8. A $18$–dimensional representation of $S_3$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(e_{2}e_{1}e_{3}e_{4}e_{12}e_{10}e_{7}e_{11}e_{14}e_{6}e_{8}e_{5}e_{15}e_{9}e_{13}e_{17}e_{16}e_{18}\right)
\\
M_2 &=& \left(e_{1}e_{3}e_{2}e_{14}e_{8}e_{7}e_{6}e_{5}e_{9}e_{10}e_{15}e_{13}e_{12}e_{4}e_{11}e_{16}e_{18}e_{17}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ Our primary invariants are $$\begin{aligned}
&&x_{1}+x_{2}+x_{3},\;\;
x_{1}x_{2}+x_{1}x_{3}+x_{2}x_{3},\;\;
x_{1}x_{2}x_{3},\\
&&x_{4}+x_{9}+x_{14},\;\;
x_{4}x_{9}+x_{4}x_{14}+x_{9}x_{14},\;\;
x_{4}x_{9}x_{14},\\
&&x_{16}+x_{17}+x_{18},\;\;
x_{16}x_{17}+x_{16}x_{18}+x_{17}x_{18},\;\;
x_{16}x_{17}x_{18},\\
&&x_{6}+x_{7}+x_{10},\;\;
x_{6}x_{7}+x_{6}x_{10}+x_{7}x_{10},\\
&&x_{6}x_{7}x_{10},\;\;
x_{5}+x_{8}+x_{11}+x_{12}+x_{13}+x_{15},\\
&&x_{5}x_{12}+x_{8}x_{13}+x_{11}x_{15},\;\;
x_{8}x_{11}+x_{12}x_{13}+x_{5}x_{15},\\
&&x_{5}x_{11}+x_{8}x_{12}+x_{5}x_{13}+x_{11}x_{13}+x_{8}x_{15}+x_{12}x_{15},\\
&&x_{5}x_{8}x_{12}+x_{5}x_{11}x_{12}+x_{5}x_{8}x_{13}+x_{11}x_{12}x_{15}+x_{8}x_{13}x_{15}+x_{11}x_{13}x_{15},\\
&&x_{5}^6+x_{8}^6+x_{11}^6+x_{12}^6+x_{13}^6+x_{15}^6
\end{aligned}$$ There are 31104 secondary invariants of maximal degree 22, among which are 137 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 4.
9. A $10$–dimensional representation of $S_5$ is given by the matrices $$\begin{aligned}
M_1 &=& \left(\begin{smallmatrix}
1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 1 &\frac 13 &\frac 13 &\frac 13& 0 & 0& 0& 0& 0\\
0 & 0 &\frac 13&-\frac 23&-\frac 23 & 0& 0 & 0& 0& 0\\
0 & 0&-\frac 23& \frac 13&-\frac 23& 0& 0& 0& 0& 0\\
0 & 0&-\frac 23&-\frac 23& \frac 13& 0& 0& 0& 0& 0\\
0 & 0& 0& 0& 0& 1& 0& 0& 0& 0\\
0 & 0& 0& 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0& 1 & 0\\
0 & 0& 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0
\end{smallmatrix}\right) \\
M_2 &=& \left(\begin{smallmatrix}
1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0 &\frac 13&-\frac 23&-\frac 23& 0& 0& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0&-\frac 23& \frac 13&-\frac 23& 0 & 0& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0&-\frac 23&-\frac 23& \frac 13& 0 & 0& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 1& \frac 13& \frac 13& \frac 13& 0 & 0& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0& -1& -1& 1& 1 & 0\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & -1 & 0& 0& 0 & 1\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0& 0 & -1& 0 & 1 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0& -1& 0 & 0 & 0\\
0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0& -1& 1 & 0 & 0
\end{smallmatrix}\right)
\end{aligned}$$ We are not listing the primary invariants here, as they are too big polynomials. There are 720 secondary invariants of maximal degree 22, among which are 46 irreducible secondary invariants of maximal degree 9.
Examples (2), (3) and (9) belong to a very interesting class of examples that was shown to us by G. Kemper [@KemperPersonal]. For $n\in \mathbb N$, Let $M_n$ be the set of two-element subsets of $\{1,...,n\}$. Then, one studies the obvious $S_n$ action on $M_n$ (or similarly, the obvious $A_n$ action), and one can try to compute the invariant ring $\mathbb Q[M_n]^{S_n}$ (resp. $\mathbb Q[M_n]^{A_n}$).
The $10$–dimensional representation of $S_5$ in Example (9) is a surprisingly challenging problem. To simplify the computations, Kemper provided a decomposition of the representation into a direct sum of a $1$–, a $4$– and a $5$–dimensional representation. Without ad-hoc methods, the computation of secondary invariants for that problem has been beyond reach. The procedure `(Irreducible)SecondaryInvariants` of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> V2.13-8 breaks immediately, since it requests 55.62 GB memory, while the memory limit of our computer is 16 GB. Our algorithm `irredsecondarychar0` in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> version 3-0-2 exceeds the limit of 16 GB while computing secondary invariants in degree $8$.
The total number of secondary invariants in Example (9) is not particularly large. The difficulties in Example (9) come from the fact that there are *irreducible* secondary invariants of rather high degrees.
Comparison
----------
We describe here how different algorithms perform on Examples (1) up to (9). All computations had been done on a Linux x8664 platform with two AMD Opteron 248 processors (2,2 GHz) and a memory limit of 16 GB. The computation of primary invariants is not part of our tests. Hence, in each example we use the same primary invariants for all considered implementations. We compare the following implementations:
1. `secondarychar0` as in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> release 2-0-6. In Table \[tab:bench\], we refer to it as <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> (1998).
2. `secondarychar0` as in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> release 3-0-2, whith a small refinement. In Table \[tab:bench\], we refer to it as <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> (all sec.).
3. `irredsecondarychar0`, as in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> release 3-0-2, with a small refinement. In Table \[tab:bench\], we refer to it as <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> (irr. sec.).
4. `SecondaryInvariants` in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> V2.13-8.
Implementation (1) is due to A. Heydtmann [@Heydtmann] (1998) and has been part of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> up to release 3-0-1.
Implementations (2) and (3) are our implementations of the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Improved New Algorithm</span> explained in Section \[sec:irred\_secondary\]. They are part of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> 3-0-2, released in Juli, 2006. Here, we test a slightly improved version, that saves memory when generating irreducible secondary invariants in high degrees. However, this only affects example (9); the performance in the other eight examples remains essentially the same, as the degrees of their irreducible secondary invariants are not high enough.
------------ -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
Algorithm: (1) (2) (3) (4)
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span>
(1998) (all sec.) (irr. sec.)
Expl. (1) 0.55 s 0.05 s 0.03 s 0.05 s
8.62 MB 1.49 MB 1.0 MB 10.3 MB
Expl. (2) 0.05 s 0.04 s 0.04 s 0.01 s
0.99 MB 0.96 MB 0.97 MB 7.05 MB
Expl. (3) 0.48 s 0.33 s 0.3 s 0.19 s
2.97 MB 1.95 MB 1.96 MB 8.96 MB
Expl. (4) 6.55 s 0.63 s 0.32 s 0.48 s
12.29 MB 2.47 MB 2.97 MB 9.09 MB
Expl. (5) 18.15 s 10.53s 9.69 s 6.66 s
45.79 MB 10.61 MB 17.0 MB 31.82 MB
Expl. (6) $> 984$ m 100.4 s 16.55 s 118.51 s
$>167$ MB 110.0 MB 39.0 MB 54.0 MB
Expl. (7) — 268.9s 20.94 s $> 7$ h
— 872.7 MB 35.1 MB $> 15$ GB
Expl. (8) — $>10$ h 50.7 m —
— $>10$ GB 3.36 GB (259.5 GB)
Expl. (9) — 6.42 h 99.2 m —
— 10.74 GB 7.35 GB (55.62 GB)
------------ -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
: Comparison of different implementations[]{data-label="tab:bench"}
Implementation (4) is due to A. Steel, based on [@KemperSteel] or [@Kemper] or [@DerksenKemper]. We consider here the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span>-version V2.13-8, released in October, 2006. There is also a function `IrreducibleSecondaryInvariants` in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span>, but computation time and memory consumption are essentially the same, in our examples. So, for the sake of simplicity, we do not provide separate timings for that function.
Note that, after posting the first version of this manuscript, there was a new release of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> containing an algorithm that G. Kemper developed in 2006. However, it seems that Kemper did not describe his algorithm in a paper yet. Meanwhile we implemented another, completely different algorithm in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span>. It will be part of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> release 3-0-3 and often works much faster. E.g., it can compute Example (8) in $1.06$ seconds. We describe this algorithm in [@KingInvariantAlgebra] and also provide there comparative benchmarks using the new versions of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> and <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span>.
Interestingly, in contrast to the corresponding <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> functions, `irredsecondarychar0` often works much faster and needs much less memory than `secondarychar0`; see Examples (1) and (6)–(9). However, this is not always the case, as can be seen in Examples (4) and (5).
In Table \[tab:bench\], — means that the computation fails since the process exceeds the memory limit; in examples (8) and (9), <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span> requests the amount of memory that we indicate in round brackets. In some cases, we stopped the computation when it was clear that it takes too much time; this is indicated in the table by $>...$.
In conclusion, our benchmarks provide some evidence that the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Improved New Algorithm</span> has great advantages in the computation of invariant rings with many secondary invariants. Here, it marks a dramatic improvement compared with previous algorithms in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Singular</span> or algorithms in <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Magma</span>. In 3 of our 9 examples, it is the only algorithm that terminates in reasonable time with a memory limit of 16 GB. A particular benefit or our algorithm is that the computation of irreducible secondary invariants does not involve the explicit computation of *reducible* secondary invariants, which may save resources.
Acknowledgement {#acknowledgement .unnumbered}
---------------
I’m grateful to Gregor Kemper for providing me with the data of Example (9). I owe thanks to Gregor Kemper and Nicolas Thiéry for their comments on this manuscript.
W. Bosma, J. Cannon and C. Playoust: The Magma algebra system I: The user language. **24, 3/4**, pp. 235–265 (1997).
M. Brickenstein: Slimgb: Gröbner Bases with Slim Polynomials. In: [*Rhine Workshop on Computer Algebra.*]{} Proceedings of RWCA’06, Basel, March 2006.
H. Derksen and G. Kemper: Invariant Theory and Algebraic Transformation Groups, I. Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences, **130**. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2002.
D. Eisenbud: Graduate Texts in Mathematics, **150**. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1995.
R. Fröberg: Pure and Applied Mathematics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, 1997.
G.-M. Greuel, G. Pfister and H. Schönemann: 3-0-2. A Computer Algebra System for Polynomial Computations. Centre for Computer Algebra, University of Kaiserslautern (2005). .
A. Heydtmann: Diploma Thesis, Saarbrücken, 1996.
G. Kemper: Computational Invariant Theory. In: [*The Curves Seminar at Queen’s.*]{} Vol. XII (Kingston, ON, 1998), pp. 5–26. Queen’s Papers in Pure and Appl. Math., **114**. Queen’s Univ., Kingston, ON, 1998.
G. Kemper: Personal communication in Oberwolfach (2006).
G. Kemper and A. Steel: Some Algorithms in Invariant Theory of Finite Groups. In: [*Proceedings of the Euroconference on Computational Methods for Representations of Groups and Algebras, Essen, 1997*]{}, pp. 267–285. Eds.: P. Dr[ä]{}xler, G. O. Michler and C. M. Ringel. Progr. Math. **173**, Birkh[ä]{}user, Basel, 1999.
S. King: Ideal Turaev-Viro invariants. **3**, pp. 62–66 (2006).
S. King: Ideal Turaev-Viro invariants. *Topology and Its Applications* **154** (2007), pp. 1141–1156.
S. King: Minimal generating sets of non-modular invariant rings of finite groups. `arXiv:math.AC/0703035`. Preprint, March 2007.
M. Kreuzer and L. Robbiano: Springer-Verlag, 2000.
B. Sturmfels: Springer–Verlag, Wien/New York 1993.
V. G. Turaev, O. Y. Viro: State sum invariants of $3$-manifolds and quantum $6j$-symbols. **31,** pp. 865–902 (1992).
| |
The 12 year Rosetta mission will come to a dramatic close at the end of this month, when the spacecraft will hurtle toward the surface of its comet, ultimately crashing into a region of active pits.
Since August, Rosetta has begun to adjust its orbit to bring it closer to the comet than ever before as it approaches the final flyover, set to take place on Sept 24.
Just six days after this, the $1.5 billion space probe will make a controlled impact with an area known as Ma’at – where 60-meter-deep pits with ‘goosebumped’ walls are thought to produce many of the comet’s dust jets.
Scroll down for video
The 12 year Rosetta mission will come to a dramatic close at the end of this month, when the spacecraft will hurtle toward the surface of its comet, ultimately crashing into a region of active pits. An artist's impression of the craft approaching the comet is pictured
ROSETTA'S LAST DAYS
Rosetta will make impact with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on September 30 in a region of active pits known as Ma’at.
Scientists say the impact will take place at around 1.1 miles per hour – about half the speed of the landing by the ill-fated Philae lander.
In its final hours the space probe will beam back high resolution close up images of the comet along with other last ditch measurements.
Rosetta will send photos back to the mission team as it descends toward the surface, allowing it to achieve its closest look yet at the comet it has circled for the last two years before it hits the surface on Sept 30.
The impact site lies on the smaller of two lobes of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, according to the ESA, and contains several active pits more than 100 meters wide.
These pits are known to be lined with bizarre lumpy structures that scientists refer to as ‘goosebumps,’ and it’s thought that these may be the remnants of early ‘cometesimals’ that came together to create the comet during the Solar System’s early days.
Rosetta will descend to a point adjacent to a 130-meter-wide pit known as ‘Deir el-Medina,’ named informally for its similarity to an ancient Egyptian town.
Share this article
The impact site lies on the smaller of two lobes of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, according to the ESA, and contains several active pits more than 100 meters wide. Rosetta will descend to a point adjacent to a 130-meter-wide pit known as ‘Deir el-Medina
THE ROSETTA MISSION
Rosetta spent 10 years travelling to comet 67P, finally arriving in August 2014 after travelling more than four billion miles from Earth, in what was considered to be a remarkable feat of precision space travel.
In November 2014 the Philae lander it had been carrying was launched towards the comet’s surface. A failure of the probe's harpoon system saw it bounce three times before settling at an angle in a dark ditch.
It did manage to beam back a handful of pictures before its batteries ran out after 60 hours.
Its Rosetta mothership, however, has continued to orbit the comet gathering data that has revealed crucial insights into the structure of the comet.
The space probe has been flying elliptical orbits since August 9, coming closer than ever.
At its closest approach, it could come just over half a mile from the surface.
This will be complete on Sept 24 – and then, the craft will undergo maneuvers to line up with its target impact site as it transitions out of an elliptical orbit to fly down onto the comet.
‘Although we’ve been flying Rosetta around the comet for two years now, keeping it operating safely for the final weeks of the mission in the unpredictable environment of this comet and so far from the Sun and Earth, will be our biggest challenge yet,’ says Sylvain Lodiot, ESA’s spacecraft operations manager.
‘We are already feeling the difference in gravitational pull of the comet as we fly closer and closer: it is increasing the spacecraft’s orbital period, which has to be corrected by small manoeuvres.
‘But this is why we have these flyovers, stepping down in small increments to be robust against these issues when we make the final approach.’
The Rosetta probe has spent two years orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (pictured) revealing new details about its structure, evolution and even discovering organic molecules that form key building blocks of proteins on its surface
Rosetta will soon join its lander Philae on 67P, which bounced to a rest beneath a cliff face on the surface of the comet in 2014.
Scientists had initially planned to put the spacecraft into a hibernation mode as it moves further and further away from the sun.
But it was feared the spacecraft may not be able to get enough power on its solar panels to ensure it could stay warm enough to survive.
So rather than risking the hibernation, scientists at the European Space Agency decided to send Rosetta to the comet's surface in a controlled descent.
Air surrounding the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko is rich with oxygen.
The surprise discovery made last year may force a rethink of theories about the origins of the Solar System - but does not imply the presence of life.
Experts controlling the ESA's Rosetta orbiter discovered that free oxygen is the fourth most common gas in the atmosphere around Comet 67P.
Its other constituents are water vapour, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Oxygen is highly reactive and according to current theories should not exist on its own in such quantities.
Over vast amounts of time, most of Comet 67P's oxygen should by now have combined with hydrogen to form water, it was thought.
Professor Kathrin Altwegg, project leader for Rosetta's Rosina mass spectrometer instrument, said: 'We had never thought that oxygen could 'survive' for billions of years without combining with other substances.'
While microbes and plants are responsible for most of Earth's oxygen, the new discovery does not mean that Comet 67P is teeming with life.
Instead, scientists believe the comet's oxygen originated very early, before the solar system had even finished forming.
High energy particles are thought to have freed the oxygen by striking grains of ice in the cold and dense birthplace of the solar system, known as a 'dark nebula'.
The oxygen was incorporated into the comet nucleus when it was created some 4.6 billion years ago and has remained ever since, according to the researchers writing in the journal Nature.
Professor Altwegg added: 'This evidence of oxygen as an ancient substance will likely discredit some theoretical models of the formation of the Solar System.' | |
The Prince George’s County Local Workforce Development Board (LWDB) is a dynamic group of private and public sector partners that provides leadership, direction and policy oversight for the workforce delivery system in Prince George’s County. Our mission is to be a Local Workforce Development Board that drives the innovation, integration, continuity, productivity, and efficiency of a workforce system that produces a robust, qualified, and skilled workforce that meets the needs of the business community.
The membership of the LWDB is represented by:
- Business Sector
- Labor Organizations
- Community Based Organizations
- Adult Education/Literacy
- Higher Education
- Economic /Community Development
- Vocational Rehabilitation
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Workforce Development Agency
- State Employment Services
Guidance
The LWDB provides guidance and oversight of the local workforce investment system and ensures that Businesses have the skilled workers and resources needed to remain competitive and prosper. Job seekers can acquire the training and knowledge necessary to achieve long-term careers and begin to build wealth. Youth have access to opportunities in education, career exploration, and work experience with which to build careers. | https://www.employpg.org/workforce-development-board/ |
MAOS Professional Advisory Panel 2016-17
The Professional Advisors Panel is made up of local researchers, scientists, educators, and community members who help facilitate internships, field study trips, guest speakers and other enriching activities that broaden the depth and scope of instruction in the MAOS program. The success of the MAOS program is largely due to our collaborative efforts with the many research and education facilities in the Monterey Bay and the support we receive from the business community for our internship program and our fundraising efforts.
We welcome individuals who feel they can contribute to the MAOS experience and would like to work with an intern or help facilitate an activity for the program. Please contact Professional Advisory Panel Chairperson Natalie Webb by email at [email protected].
Priority Activities:
- Recruiting professional mentors for MAOS internships and developing an annual catalogue of internship opportunities for use by MAOS students in considering possible projects.
- Assisting teachers with long-term pilot projects to provide scientific field experience to students from various grades, beginning with intertidal biology surveys.
- Enhancement of field trips, including hands-on elements and possible new trips
- Providing guest speakers and career panel participants.
- Suggesting curriculum enhancements drawing on programs and materials of their organizations.
- Developing mechanisms for keeping MAOS informed about new activities or discoveries in their field (e.g. website postings, email newsletters, etc.)
- Developing teacher training opportunities for MAOS teachers by local scientists/educators.
- Providing advice and assistance to Friends of MAOS Board on related matters, (i.e., legal, financial, insurance, public relations).
Panel makeup: | https://www.maosmontereyhigh.org/professional-advisory-panel/ |
The mission of PPNA is to nurture diversity and empower residents to work together toward a healthy future for our neighborhood.
VISION
The PPNA seeks to cultivate our neighborhood's unique character in order to promote equitable development, maintain diversity, improve environmental assets, and make Patterson Park a fun, sustainable, and fulfilling place to live, work, and grow.
GOALS
Our goals support our mission and are derived from expressed aspirations and priorities of residents.
PPNA goals are to:
-
Increase community spirit
-
Promote public safety
-
Encourage well-maintained homes, streets, and alleys
-
Foster commercial and residential investment
-
Preserve and enhance environmental assets
-
Build collaborative relations with other organizations and institutions
-
Strengthen organizational effectiveness
HISTORY
The Patterson Park Neighborhood Association (PPNA) was founded on the efforts of a concerned resident and city police officer, Arthur Bailey, in 1972. A homeowner on Kenwood Avenue, Bailey saw a need to organize a group of citizens who would address concerns in the neighborhood, support our youth, and support one another. Through collaborations with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore, Banner Neighborhoods, Patterson Park Community Development Association, and many other community-based organizations, residents of the Baltimore-Linwood Community Association (1986) chartered the organization as a 501c(3) in 1998, and changed the name to the Patterson Park Neighborhood Association in 2003.
OVERVIEW
Today, the Patterson Park neighborhood is an active and diverse community, situated on the north and east sides of Patterson Park, tucked conveniently between the waterfront of Canton and the East Baltimore campus of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, with over 155 acres of green space as our very own backyard. PPNA supports targeted efforts for many vibrant committees, including Beautification, Economic Development, Education, Friends of Library Square, Greening, Housing, Youth and Family Engagement, Safety, Social, and Transportation, with projects initiated and organized by compassionate neighbors who are dedicated to improving our community. The Patterson Park neighborhood is situated within City Council District 1 of Southeast Baltimore.
CONTACT US
PPNA Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 844
Baltimore, MD 21203
Contact the Board at [email protected].
Contact members of the PPNA Board:
-
Board President,
-
Board Secretary,
-
Board Treasurer,
Vice Presidents represent the needs of neighbors in each Sector within the neighborhood boundaries:
-
VP Patterson Place,
-
VP North Sector,
-
VP East Sector,
-
VP South Sector,
-
VP West Sector, | https://www.pattersonparkneighbors.org/mission |
Learn more in our Impact Report
Director: Mary Beth Moran, PT, M.Ed., M.S.
The Center for Healthier Communities (CHC) is your community resource for keeping your children healthy and safe. By partnering with organizations throughout our region, we offer an array of innovative programs and services, including: Maternal and Child Health, Oral Health, Youth Development, Injury Prevention, and Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles.
The Role of Center for Healthier Communities is to:
- Analyze child health issues and key health indicators
- Integrate Rady Children’s care redesign/population health efforts with community initiatives and resources
- Convene organizations and individuals to collaborate on strategic initiatives
- Develop, launch and test innovative prevention strategies that address social determinants of health
- Advocate for related policy and environmental changes
- Leverage assets from private and public sectors
The Center for Healthier Communities works to analyze preventive child health issues and utilize best practice strategies to launch innovative prevention-oriented initiatives. These initiatives address health disparities and integrate Rady Children’s clinical care with community partners and resources to create healthier communities. The diagram below depicts the role of CHC as an integrator. | https://www.rchsd.org/programs-services/center-for-healthier-communities/ |
Available in print and electronic formats to provide students with convenient, easy access.
Chapter 19: Geographic Perspectives on Democracy and Elections
Geographic Perspectives on Democracy and Elections
Over the past century, more and more countries have implemented democratic systems of governance. In democracies, voting determines who controls governments, which in turn set public policy agendas. Understanding voting is thus critical to understanding governance in contemporary society. Because most countries divide themselves into subnational and local governmental units on the basis of territory, the understanding of geography becomes a highly important and significant component of understanding government policy in the complex, interdependent world of the 21st century.
Electoral geography involves the mapping and analysis of election returns in democratic societies. In most countries, election results can be obtained and mapped at a disaggregated level of analysis. For example, electoral data are available by ...
- Loading... | https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/hdbk_geography/n19.xml |
Urbanization, industry, and other human activities are major contributors to air pollution outflows and polluted air.In metropolitan areas; more than 80% of the population is exposed to emissions that exceed World Health Organization criteria. Air pollution is one of the most significant global health and environmental concerns, and it has been identified one of the top five global risk factors for death by the Health Effects Institute.
The growing patterns of population expansion in India, and the implications for air quality, are evident. Over time, there has been a significant increase in enterprises, population density, anthropogenic activities, and the increasing use of automobiles, which has impacted India's air quality. Over the last several years, anthropogenic ozone depleting chemical (GHG) discharges and other emissions have grown considerably.
In 2017, air pollution was estimated to have caused over 1.1 million premature deaths in India, with exposure to outdoor PM-2.5 concentrations accounting for 56% and household air pollution accounting for 44%.
With no reliable sources for monitoring the rate of energy consumption, a subsequent increase in energy consumption can be expected in the coming years.
The continuous deterioration of surrounding air quality in India's metropolitan communities necessitates strong measures to control air pollution. Despite the fact that the Government of India has proposed various measures to reduce vehicular and modern discharges, the extent to which these actions are carried out is problematic. The omission of infrastructural offices, a lack of monetary assets to carry out cutting edge infrastructural advancements, difficulties in the migration of businesses from urban areas even after obligatory court decisions, and, most importantly, the personal conduct standards among individuals in tolerating eco-friendly arrangements are a portion of the pressing obstacles making a path for environmental protection that our nation is by all accounts attempting to defeat.
SOURCES OF AIR POLLUTION
The different wellsprings of air contamination are grouped into seven significant areas
1. Incorporate transportation: Street traffic discharges are one of the most significant contributors to air pollution in India
2. Industrial processes: India has experienced rapid industrialization in the last few years. Most metropolitan urban communities’ air quality has been harmed as a result of this.
3. Agriculture/farming: The main contaminants released by farming activities are alkali (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O), which can potentially pollute the environment.
4. Power Plants:In India, the commitment of force plants to air discharges is both massive and troubling. Nuclear power plants generate approximately 74% of total power generated in India.
5. Squander treatment and biomass consuming:In India, roughly 80% of municipal solid waste (MSW) is still disposed of in open unloading yards and landfills, resulting in various GHG discharges separate from issues of foul odour and poor water quality in neighbouring areas.
6. Construction and demolition waste: Even after construction, these structures have the ability to be significant factors of GHG emissions. Guttikunda and Goel (2013) calculated that approximately 10,750 tonne of construction waste is produced in Delhi each year relying on their research.
7. Domestic Sector: In India, families are recognised as a significant source of air pollution. Emissions from petroleum products, ovens, and generators fall into this category, influencing overall air quality. Energizers such as cooking gas, lamp oil, wood, crop waste, or cow compost cakes are used to control homegrown energy. | https://www.netsolwater.com/air-pollution-and-major-causes-of-it.php?blog=207 |
Kim Ceccarelli is a behavioral coordinator and crisis specialist at the Northshore Education Consortium in Beverly, Massachusetts who has worked in the autism field for 25 years. “My work involved providing safe and effective behavior management—including de-escalation strategies and behavior intervention—for about 25 students who have autism and fall within the ‘severe’ category,” Ceccarelli explains. Her students range from ages 7 to 21 years old and many of them are completely nonverbal.
In her classrooms, she works with her staff to grasp that idea that their behavior is their form of communication. As caretakers, you need to become detectives and actually analyze why your child may be acting out by running around, kicking, or screaming.
Ceccarelli noticed that whenever a child would act out aggressively, they always seemed remorseful after the act, for example by rubbing the area they may have hurt someone, which made her realize that her students didn’t want to act out. She notes that once she started acknowledging that many of her students didn’t have much control over what their bodies did during a meltdown, she was able to look at their behavior from a different perspective. She began to analyze what exactly was triggering certain behaviors and what she could do avoid this behavior or change it.
“I still remember one 20 year old student who would lose control of his body, flailing forcefully when upset, until finally he slammed his head into a wall—almost as if that was the only way to stop the episode or get relief,” she explains. “At the onset, we began prompting him to sit and put beads in a pipe cleaner with his forearms resting on the table. Having his forearms on the table was incompatible with the flailing. Other students just needed to learn one word—wait—when in a crowded hallway to replace body slamming the walls. These are small interventions, but they made a huge difference.
Whenever she taught a student a replacement behavior, they had a tendency to choose the replacement behavior over their original more challenging behavior, and they appear to be grateful for it. The hardest part is figuring out what it is that your child needs, but even the littlest adjustments can make the biggest difference.
On Day 1 of our upcoming conference, we will have a workshop lead by Dr. Brian Iwata on “Functional Analysis & Treatment of Severe Problem Behavior”. For more information and tickets to the event, click here!
To read more about Ceccarelli’s learning points for children with autism, click here!
New Online Course For Parents of Children With Autism Designed by Medical & Educational Experts
The University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center has launched an online course designed to help parents of children with autism better understand behavioral intervention, advocate for their child’s needs in school programs, and navigate the legal rights of disabled persons. The course is divided into ten-modules, allowing parents to set the pace, and is intended for use as early as diagnosis. The lessons follow six families of children with autism spectrum disorder through common scenarios to guide parents in the implementation of Behavioral Intervention strategies. The program manager, Maura Buckley, a mother of two young teenagers with autism, used her experience navigating the various systems of care and education to form this parental guide. Buckley notes having felt uninvolved and uninformed about her children’s daily lives while in school and therapy. She asserts the benefits of the new program saying, “Being able to interact with the professionals who are helping my child, and being able to advocate for what they need is so important.”[i] Seminars can be difficult to coordinate attending, especially for a parent of a child with autism, so an online program allows accessibility to up-to-date information on intervention strategies and educational approaches, bridging the gap between specialists and parents. Additionally, equipping parents with the knowledge of behavioral intervention will allow parents to reinforce their children’s progress from school and therapy programs, providing the most comprehensive care for individuals on the autism spectrum. Parents who take the course will know what and how to inform specialists of behavior at home as well as how to best respond in particular circumstances. The course is available for monthly, quarterly, and annual subscription atudiscovering.org. The experts responsible for the course are in the process of creating an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) course for paraprofessionals, to be released this summer.
[i] Meindersma, Sandy. “Medical School Launches Online Course for Parents of Children with Autism.” Worcester Telegram & Gazette. N.p., 26 May 2013. Web. 28 May 2013. <http://www.telegram.com/
SKHOV recovering from Hurricane Sandy
Shema Kolainu – Hear Our Voices is recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Our School & Center was closed Monday and Tuesday October 29th and 30th. We will be open again tomorrow Wednesday October 31st. We are eager to have all of our kids back in school as it can be difficult for children with autism to have a change in routines. With Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) it is important to have continuity and cross-over of learning and skills from the school setting to home setting. When this pattern is disrupted it can be difficult for the child and family to get back on track. Our staff is ready with open arms to welcome the children back to school and help them through the transitions and changes in routines.
Tricare ordered to cover ABA therapy for military families
Tricare has been ordered by a federal judge to cover autism therapy for children of military families. Unfortunately the reimbursement for applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment could take years as the issue is still tied up in court.
Judge Reggie Walton, of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia who made the ruling, could also extend ABA coverage for active-duty dependents, considering it a medical treatment that would fall under Tricare’s basic program. Continue reading
Treating Autism – An Array of Options
Trawling the internet for literature on autism treatments can be a daunting task. As you start digging, you’ll find dozens of options available. As every child’s needs are different, it is nearly impossible to find the “best” treatments.
Below are a selection of some of the most well known and researched treatments most likely to have a positive outcome. However, it is important to remember that often treatment options work best when used in conjunction with others. Trial and error can be the best way to figure out what treatment plan will best suit an individual’s particular issues. | http://blog.hear-our-voices.org/tag/aba/ |
The hiring of workers to join our IT team is arguably one of the most important decisions that an IT manager will make. We’ll be potentially living with the results of these decisions for a very long time. What this means is that we don’t want to make a mistake – we only want to have the right people join our team. Just what makes someone the right person is a bit of a mystery: is it technical skills, is it past experience, or is it something else? More and more companies are starting to believe that it is something else.
Using Culture Fit To Make Hiring Decisions
When we are looking to use our IT manager skills hire a new employee, we all tend to do the same things that our IT manager training has taught us. First we’ll conduct phone interviews, perhaps we’ll then move to some form of a video interview, then we’ll invite candidates to come in to meet them and after this is all over, we’ll attempt to make a decision about who the best fit for our team is. The problem that we all have with this process is that it can still be too easy to “choose the wrong one”. We’d all like to do a better job at picking the right candidate.
Perhaps what has been missing from our hiring process is what is currently being referred to as “culture fit”. This can be a difficult thing to define because culture fit is very much like a tribal thing. What IT managers are trying to do is to find new ways that they can evaluate a candidate’s cultural suitability. The goal is to select the person who is going to fit in with their team from day one.
Exactly how to evaluate somebody’s cultural fit is a bit difficult. There are some firms that select current employees to act as so-called “cultural ambassadors”. Their job is to evaluate the finalists who have applied for jobs in other departments. Often times these employees are given veto power over candidates whom they believe just won’t fit in with the rest of the company. They may decide this even if the candidate has all of the other right skills for the job.
The Dangers Of Using Culture Fit
The idea of matching a job candidate to a positon by including their fit with the company’s culture sure seems like a good idea. I’m pretty sure that by now we’ve all seen examples where people have been hired who turned out to be a poor fit for both the job that they got and the company that they went to work for. However, it turns out that this culture fit stuff does come with some pretty serious limitations.
The problem with trying to determine a job candidate’s culture fit to a company is that it’s not very clear just exactly what that means. We all think that we know, but we probable could not write it down. What this means for us is that there is a real possibility that bias could start to creep into our evaluation of candidates. Just because I don’t like tall people, short people, fat people or skinny people, I may not like a candidate. Over time what can happen is that this additional hurdle that job candidates have to clear may result in the company becoming less diverse.
The legal folks at companies view using cultural fit as a hiring criterial as a dangerous thing to do. Facebook views it as being so dangerous that they simply don’t do it. Facebook discourages its managers from using cultural fit as a decision criteria and refers to it as being a “bias trap”. The fear is that cultural fit is so vague that it could end up allowing companies to exclude entire groups of people. A safer way to go is to limit your evaluation criterial to job related duties.
What All Of This Means For You
One of the most challenging parts of being an IT manager is trying to get the hiring process right. As we add more people to our team, we need to make sure that they have both the required technical talents as well the ability to get along with the rest of the team. Finding people who fit our team can be hard to do.
One technique that a number of companies are starting to use in order to make the right selection when they are considering candidates for a position is to determine if they have the right culture fit. This is hard to define, but effectively it means that the person will be able to start to participate in IT team building and contribute to the team starting on day one. There is no fixed way to measure someone’s culture fit so some companies have appointed culture ambassadors who are responsible for determining a candidate’s culture fit. IT managers need to be careful because it has been determined that trying to use culture fit as a part of a hiring process may introduce a bias that will exclude groups of people.
We all know that it is very important that we make the right decisions when we are adding members to our team. No matter if we create a formal culture fit evaluation process or if we keep it informal, this sure seems like a good thing to do. However, we need to be aware that it can open the door for our personal bias and so we need to be ever vigilant that we make unbiased decisions about who we permit to join our team.
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World IT Management Skills™
Question For You: Do you think that a culture fit evaluation should be applied at the start or at the end of the hiring process?
Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental IT Leader Blog is updated.
P.S.: Free subscriptions to The Accidental IT Leader Newsletter are now available. Learn what you need to know to do the job. Subscribe now: Click Here!
What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
As an IT manager you are counting on your team to get tasks accomplished in part so that you’ll look good to the rest of the company. In order for your team to be successful, they are all going to have to be able to work together. This is going to require a different set of skills from the technical skills that they were hired for. The name for this set of relationship skills is “soft skills”. Do the members of your team have soft skills? | http://theaccidentalitleader.com/staffing-2/how-important-is-culture-fit-when-making-hiring-decisions |
Maruti looks to job, production cuts as sales declineMonday, July 29, 2013
India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has asked as many as 450 contract workers to go on “long leave”, or leave without pay, as it looks to cut production and clear inventory that has piled up at its dealerships. The move could be the first sign of job cuts in the Indian automobile industry as slower economic growth and higher loan rates take their toll on auto sales.
According to three people familiar with the development, at least 300 workers at Maruti Suzuki’s powertrain and transmission unit in Manesar and as many as 150 workers at its assembly plant in Gurgaon were asked to go on leave last month, when production fell to 30-40% of capacity.
“We asked these workers to stop coming to work from 29 June as we were closing shift C at Manesar from first week of July,” said a Maruti Suzuki official.
The three persons—two company executives and a leader of the Maruti Suzuki labour union—spoke on condition of anonymity.
On peak production days, Maruti Suzuki works in three shifts—A, B and C. While the first two shifts run for 8 hours and 45 minutes each, the third one works between 12 midnight and 6.30am.
Maruti Suzuki’s local sales fell 7.8% to 77,002 units in June from a year earlier, with the decline cutting across categories including small cars, mid-size sedans and utility vehicles, the company said earlier this month. After growing 4.44% in the fiscal ended March, domestic sales at Maruti Suzuki have fallen 6.8% to 263,264 units in the first quarter of the current year. In May, overall car sales in India fell by an annual 12.3%, dropping for the seventh straight month.
Economic growth that slowed to a decade’s low of 5% in the year ended March and interest rates that have remained high despite three cuts of 25 basis points each by the Reserve Bank of India since January have hurt consumer sentiment.
One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Maruti Suzuki is targeting a production cut of 30-40% in July as well, said a second person.
“Our capacity is to make 4,400 cars a day (including Manesar and Gurgaon); in June we produced 2,700 cars and July’s production targets are no different,” the person said. “The production cut is being done to clear the inventory pile-up with dealers.”
The same person said Maruti Suzuki had at least six-eight weeks of inventory with dealers. According to a third person familiar with the development, the company has cut production of its petrol models such as the Alto and the Wagon R by as much as 40% while production of models that also have diesel versions has been reduced by 10-15%.
Other automakers are also taking measures to save on costs as the sales slowdown pinches. According to a 29 June The Hindu Business Line report, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd has decided to stop increments for workers. Workers at the two factories, who constitute a large part of the 6,000-odd workforce, fear layoffs, the report said.
Honda Cars India Ltd said cost-cutting was an ongoing process that had started during the recession of 2008.
“Since then, we are heavily focused on reducing our electricity bills by increasing the temperature of air conditioners or using one light instead of three. We travel economy unless it’s a long trip. Most of the executives stay in studio apartments rather than in hotels,” said a Honda official, requesting anonymity.
Maruti Suzuki was hit by labour unrest in 2011 and 2012 over labour-related issues including demands that contract workers be made permanent, wages be increased and working conditions improved. Mob violence at its car assembly plant in Manesar led to the death of a senior executive in July last year.
To be sure, the number of contract workers asked to proceed on leave is a small portion of the Maruti Suzuki contract labour force. The company employed 4,500 contract workers at its plants in Manesar and Guragon besides 4,200 permanent employees, according to figures made available by the car maker last year.
Responding to a Mint questionnaire sent on Sunday, a Maruti Suzuki spokesperson said: “We regularly modify the strength of outsourced people (contract workers), based on market demand and the production plan. It is difficult to confirm any figure across factories.” The Maruti Suzuki spokesperson said the firm had not reduced production by 30% in June. “We are not able to share month production targets in advance,” he said.
On inventory levels, the spokesperson said: “Owing to our focus on retail sales, our inventory is at acceptable levels. Our efforts to reach out to customers and boost retail sales continue”.
Maruti Suzuki is looking at ways to cut discretionary costs, including marketing, promotions and travel expenses, Mint reported on 12 March, citing managing director and chief executive Shinzo Nakanishi. Despite the negative sentiment, Maruti Suzuki still expects sales to grow 5% in the current fiscal, Mint reported on 12 December, 2012 citing chairman R.C. Bhargava.
On Monday, Bhargava said he expects some recovery in the market in the current quarter.
Reacting to job cuts and production cuts, Bhargava said such practices were an industry-wide phenomena and the company has been striving to reduce the inventory levels with its dealers. (Also read: An overview of some key manufacturing sectors)
“Keeping temporary labour force serves the purpose of having flexibility in production. You don’t want to keep producing to your capacity but you need to work as per market condition,” Bhargava said. “Even in June, wholesale is down 7.8% but retail sales were higher by 3%. That reflects our focus on reducing inventory.”
IDFC Securities Ltd, a Mumbai-based brokerage firm, said that barring Maruti Suzuki, Eicher Motors Ltd and Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd all the companies in its coverage universe expected to record earnings declines in the first quarter of this fiscal. It expects Maruti Suzuki to have seen a 10% drop in sales volume but a 32% growth in profit after tax in the last quarter. | https://info.shine.com/article/maruti-looks-to-job-production-cuts-as-sales-decline/5124.html |
Conclusion And Contraindications
As a dance/movement therapist who has applied movement analysis to the creative dance concept of shape, I use shape as an improvi-sational tool to make concrete the abstract notion of boundaries. However, you do not have to be a dance/movement therapist to introduce this exercise to members of your groups. Even therapists who are uncomfortable dancing can combine kinesthetic sensing and the simple movements described to access their sense of shape. In doing so, they literally embody the seemingly intangible concept of psychological boundaries, which is often so hard to explain. To be sure that you are comfortable with the task, follow the directions yourself before you give them to anyone else. You need to know how you respond to kinesthetic sensing, touch, and simple movement, particularly if you have group members who fear self-touch or have such distorted body images that they cannot separate themselves from their negative self-assessments. Since awareness of shape will help them in the long run, take the time to prepare them for the intervention as it has the potential to counter the somatic distortions that govern their lives.
As long as you attend to the affective, cognitive, behavioral, and developmental needs of group members, there are no obvious contraindications for engaging the shape to foster healthy boundaries. Once group members have identified the vulnerable spots in their boundaries (the holes in their seams), and sensed their shapes, they will be able to take more responsibility for their contributions, or lack thereof, in group. Therapists who can sense their shape will be better able to remain present and congruent.
REFERENCES
Agazarian, Y. & Peters, R. (1981). The visible and invisible group: Two perspectives on group psychotherapy and group process. London: Routledge & Kegan. Fehr, S. (2003). Introduction to group therapy, (Second edition). Binghamlon, NY: The Haworth Press.
Fraenkel, D. (2003). Dance/movement therapy—The LivingDance approach. In S. Fehr, Introduction to group therapy: A practical guide (pp. 162-167). Bing-hamton, NY: The Haworth Press. Fraenkel, D. & Mehr, J. (2004). LivingDance-LivingMusic: Keeping your shape in shifting times. Proceedings of the American Dance Therapy Association 39th Annual Conference, New Orleans: American Dance Therapy Association. Franks, B. & Fraenkel, D. (1991). Fairy tales and dance/movement therapy: Catalysts of change for eating-disordered individuals. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 18, 311-319.
Gans, J. & Counselman, E. (1999). Silence in group psychotherapy: A powerful communication. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 50, 71-86. Minuchin, S. & Fishman, C. (1961). Family therapy techniques. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press. Ryder, R., & Bartle, S. (1991). Boundaries as distance regulators in personal relationships. Family Process, 30, 393-406. Scott, A. (1993). A beginning theory of personal space boundaries. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 29, 2-21.
Solid Confidence Affirmation
Simple Steps To Raise Your Confidence Levels Easily. In this book, you will learn all about: Why Affirmations Are Important For Concrete Confidence. How To Use Affirmations Effectively For Concrete Confidence. How To Jump In. Dating Affirmation. Better Speaker Affirmation. Authentically Happy Affirmation and so much MORE. | https://www.doctorabel.us/group-therapy/conclusion-and-contraindications-eaw.html |
Have you ever taken a photo of your artwork and found that the colors did not match the painting? Was it sharp and crystal clear or slightly blurry? Do you see the edges of your artwork where it is slightly distorted? Do you see a glare or hotspots? Well I have when photographing my own artwork. I discovered years ago that photographing my own artwork was not the way to go for me.
When I looked into what I needed to photograph my own artwork, I found there was more to it than just point and shoot. Now I have never stated that I was a photographer, so understanding this process was a little overwhelming for me. And to be honest, understanding the camera seemed "Greek" to me. Now if I took the time and took a photography course or read hundreds of pages in understanding the camera and settings, then maybe I could get it.
But for those who do want to photography their own artwork, here are a few tips I have learned:
- Use the best camera equipment that you can afford.
- Use a stable and solid tripod.
- To minimize blurriness, use a self timer.
- Avoid putting your artwork in direct sunlight - overcast sky or indirect light
works the best.
- Set the white balance on your camera correctly.
- Do not use the flash on your camera.
- Make sure your artwork is photographed directly and not under glass.
These are just a few things to consider and I advise you to research more about your camera settings, lighting, etc. before deciding to photograph your artwork.
Here are a few examples of my own work taking the photos myself vs. using a professional photographer.
My photo seemed very dark in color, especially the blacks, which was not true to the painting. Even though my photo is focused, clear and was taken on a flat surface, the edges are still distorted. The photo taken by professional photographer is exactly how the original painting appears.
Here is another example:
Again, my photos do not show the true colors of the painting as well as the professional photo does.
I spoke to my photographer and he gave me some really important tips as to why it is best to have your artwork professionally photographed that I wanted to share with you. I use Harrington PAF to photograph all of my artwork.
Why should you let a professional photograph your art?
"As a photographer who had devoted a lot of time to photographing art over the past several years I feel there are many reasons.
Here are some that top my list:
1.) Equipment and Experience
When photographing art it's important to have a proper lighting set up. Understanding light and knowing how to set up for art will produce an image that is evenly lit without glare or hotspots.
2.) Focus
It is very important to know how to photograph a piece of art that's in focus from the bottom to the top and corner-to-corner.
3.) Color
Accurately reproducing the diverse colors in artwork can be one of the most challenging aspects of art photography.
4.) Glare
Many times artwork has a shine. It might be a clear cote, varnish or a certain medium. It is important to know how to eliminate this to produce an accurate final image.
5.) Aspect Ratio
Getting the final size of the image to match the ratio of the painting size is a must. Having clean edges and accurate sizing requires a more in depth understanding of the process. There is much more to it than just pointing and shooting.
These are a few of the things I have worked through over the years. If you want clear accurate images of your art, it's best to let a photographer with experience in the field of photographing art." Dan Harrington
Because I offer Giclee prints of all my artwork, I personally find that using a professional is best for me. Also, since I enter many art shows, it is very important that I use the best photo of my artwork possible.
These are just my personal feelings and preferences and I commend those that can accomplish photographing your own art with high quality. Maybe someday I will take a course in photography and learn these skills, but for now I would rather paint and let my photographer do what he does best!
Do you photograph your own art? If so, please feel free to leave any comments or questions?
leah shaun mealing
4/22/2017 03:24:07 pm
I must not have been paying attention...you give wonderful advise Ms.Lerwick!
Reply
Johanna Lerwick
4/28/2017 05:41:58 pm
Thank you, Leah!
Reply
Leave a Reply.
|
|
Author
The Wildlife and Nature Art of Johanna Lerwick. A blog about painting wildlife and nature. Topics including painting in progress, oil paintings, art prints, art licensing and painting techniques. | https://www.johannalerwick.com/my-blog/photographing-artwork-yourself-vs-professional-photographer |
As part of our 2019 Synod Assembly, we are invited to take part in a sock and underwear drive.
Socks and underwear are among the most requested and least donated items at shelters, free clothing stores, and other charitable organizations. Dignity starts with the basics. We want to make sure that organizations working in our synod have an ample supply of brand-new socks and underwear to give to their clients. So start gathering new (still in retail packaging) socks and underwear for men, women, youth, and children. You may bring them to church before Friday, June 14. Please place them in the marked box in the Narthex or at the altar during the offering on Sunday mornings.
Pastor Joanne has further challenged our congregation.
Collect 250 packages and Pastor Joanne will rock a mullet.
500 packages and Pastor Joanne will get a mohawk.
750 packages and Pastor Joanne will shave her whole head!
Moroccan Vegetable Ragoût
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 1 ¼ cups)
1 3- to 4-inch cinnamon stick
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
2 cups peeled and medium diced (½-inch) sweet potatoes (about ¾ lb.)
1 14- to 16-oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 14 ½ oz. can diced tomatoes, with their juices
½ cup pitted green Greek or Italian olives
6 tablespoons orange, preferably fresh
1 ½ teaspoons honey
8 cups lightly packed very coarsely chopped kale leaves (from about ½ lb. kale)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Heat the oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and cook stirring frequently, until soft and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add the cinnamon stick and cumin and cook until very fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the sweet potatoes, chickpea, tomatoes and their juices, olives, orange juice, honey, and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potatoes are barely tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the kale. Cover and continue cooking until wilted and softened, about another 10 minutes.
- Remove and discard the cinnamon stick.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roasted Parmesan Herb Sweet Potatoes
Total Time: 45 mins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
parsley, for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Lightly coat a large baking pan with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Add diced potatoes and toss to coat.
- Spread potatoes in an even layer onto prepared pan. Bake for 32–35 minutes, or until lightly browned and crispy. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle with extra Parmesan cheese and parsley, if desired. Serve immediately.
Sweet Potato Brownie Bites
Servings: 24
Ingredients
1 large sweet potato
⅓ cup mini-chocolate chips
⅓ cup hot coffee
2 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 eggs
½ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place a large sweet potato in a microwave and cook on high for 5 to 7 minutes or until completely softened. Scoop out of the flesh and discard the skin. Set aside 1 cup of flesh
- Place the mini-chocolate chips in a bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate chips and stir to melt the chocolate. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the reserved sweet potato, butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add the chocolate coffee mixture to the sweet potato mixture and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the sweet potato mixture and stir just to combine.
- Using a mini muffin tin, fill the cups ¾ of the way with brownie mixture. Place in the oven to bake for 8 minutes.
Tip
- Heat up leftover coffee or espresso.
- Alternatively, roast the sweet potato until fork tender, for a sweeter, more developed flavor.
Apple Cranberry Coleslaw
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 12 – 16
Ingredients
1 – 14 oz. bag 3-color coleslaw mix
1 large apple chopped
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup chopped walnuts
4 green onions sliced
Dressing *
¾ cup low-fat mayo
¾ cup plain yogurt (not Greek)
6 tablespoons honey
¾ teaspoon dried, ground ginger
Directions
- Combine coleslaw ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients and mix well.
- Pour dressing over coleslaw and stir until evenly coated.
* For a less creamy coleslaw, use ½ c. mayo, ½ c. plain yogurt, ¼ c honey, and ½ tsp. ginger.
End of Summer Pasta Salad*
Ingredients
1 package (16 oz.) tri color fusilli or rotini pasta
¾ cup mayonnaise
¾ cup Greek yogurt
1 (1 oz.) package powdered ranch dressing mix
1 medium cucumber, quartered and thinly sliced
2 cups broccoli florets, roughly chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ cup red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup cheddar cheese, sliced into matchstick or grated
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions.
- 2 minutes before pasta is fully cooked, add broccoli and cauliflower to the pot. Strain pasta and vegetables and set aside.
- Add mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, ranch mix, and garlic powder to a large serving bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add pasta, cooked and raw vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, red onion, bell pepper and cucumber), and cheese and toss to combine.
- Cover and chill in fridge until you’re ready to serve!
*from the recipe collection of Paula Tippery
Italian Sausage and Veggies in One Pan
2 large carrots – 2 cups
2 red potatoes – 2 cups
1 small-medium zucchini – 2 ⅓ cups
2 red peppers – 2 cups
1 head broccoli – 1 ½ cups
16 ounces smoked Italian turkey or chicken sausage
Seasonings
½ tablespoon EACH: dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley, garlic powder
½ teaspoon EACH: onion powder, dried thyme
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
⅓ cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated (optional)
4 ½ tablespoons olive oil
Fresh parsley, salt and pepper
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or foil (easy to clean-up) and set aside.
- Prep the veggies. *
- Peel and very thinly slice the carrots. Wash and chop the red potatoes. You want the pieces quite small here. (I halve the potatoes and then cut each half into 10-12 pieces.)
- Halve the zucchini and then cut “think coins of zucchini. Coarsely chop the broccoli. Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers and chop into medium-sized pieces. Chop the sausage into thick coins.
- Pour all the veggies and sausage on the sheet pan.
- In a small bowl combine all of the seasonings and salt and pepper if desired (I use about ⅛ teaspoon pepper and ½ teaspoon salt with the olive oil. Stir to combine.
- Pour the seasonings and oil mixture on top of the veggies and sausage and thoroughly toss to coat.
- Place in the heated oven for 15 minutes. Remove and toss around the veggies and sausage and return to the oven for another 10-20 minutes or until veggies are crisp tender.
- Remove and top, if desired, with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.
*It is important to prep the veggies according to directions to ensure they all cook at the same time.
“Don’t Knock It Until You Try It” Beet Cake!
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups shredded fresh beets
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
- Heat oven to 350°, grease and flour 13×9 baking pan.
- Beat eggs, sugar and oil until light and fluffy.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
- Add to egg mixture and mix well.
- Add vanilla, beet, and walnuts.
- Beat for 1 minute on medium speed.
- Pour into pan, bake for 45 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean.
Carolina Kale
Ingredients
1 onion
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
4 or 5 cloves garlic
1 tsp. tabasco or ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 c. canned or 3 c. fresh tomatoes
1 bunch kale, washed and diced (about 1 ½ pounds)
Directions
- Sauté together: onion, olive oil, cumin, salt, garlic, and tabasco or red pepper flakes.
- Add tomatoes and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until tomatoes are incorporated into the onion mix.
- Add kale and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes until kale is tender.
- Serve over rice or potatoes.
Zucchini-Kale Muffins
Makes 12 standard-sized muffins.
1 ½ c. grated zucchini (or yellow summer squash)
1 c. steamed or cooked kale, roughly chopped
2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ c. oil
¼ c. applesauce
1 pinch salt
2 tsp. baking soda
3 c. flour (white, wheat or mixed)
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. chopped nuts and/or raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°. Either oil muffin tins or put in paper cupcake liners. In large bowl, whisk eggs. Add sugar, vanilla, oil, applesauce and mix well. Fold in zucchini and kale and mix in . In another bowl, mix dry ingredients (except nuts/raisins.) Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in nuts/raisins, if using. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until muffins are springy to touch.) Let cool 20 minutes before removing from pan. | https://www.oursaviorslutheranchurch.net/category/uncategorized/ |
The world is facing a complex crisis which looks like it can’t be solved: the leading governments and central banks are trying to minimize the base rate, to reduce the debts by generating inflation and weaken their currencies with the leading example of the Japanese and Brits. All of these will affect others negatively, taking in consideration the current economic and demographic situation, where the population is aging, the economy is rather stagnant and this will lead to a deeper problem – said in his interview for the fundblog.hu Russell Napier, one of the leaders of CLSA, a British financial consulting company based in Hong-Kong.
Péter Zentai: You are a historian and consultant and nowadays your knowledge is highly important, because even the most knowledgeable people concerning the markets do not really know what is coming in the short run both economically and financially. Do you agree with that?
Russell Napier: Yes, I agree with all of that. We went through a period when we believed that finance is understandable through numbers and equations, and now it is a major political and social shift on the way. There is a huge shift in the relationship of capital labor and government. Financial history has better answers than equations, so people are starting to realize that finance is more than numbers, it is sociology, psychology, even philosophy.
Does this time remind you of similar patterns or relatively similar periods?
It does not remind me one specific period, but what is happening now, happened before, but not one time. We are moving to the financial system, we had post World War II.
Do you agree that the western part, the leading part of the global economy, is in a social and political decadence?
The term decadence carries more overtones, but it is clear that the western part is living beyond its’ means, so I would not use the word decadence. This excess use of debt happened before, and it happens all over the world, in the private sector and also in the public sector. This happens over and over again, because people believe that they can extend the quality of life with debt, even the industrial revolution was financed with debts.
Many popular political leaders claim that the western world should return to production and building factories. Do you agree with this point of view?
We do not necessarily have to go back to production, because there are many other parts of economy then making stuff and finance. For example technology, retail proves to be successful when we are talking about expanding businesses. Although I agree that finance has become a too large proportion of GDP in most developed countries. We should return to the level of ‘60s and ‘70s regarding the proportion of finance present in GDP, when the economy was performing pretty well.
This over-extending financial sector has or has not contributed to the present crisis?
Yes, it has contributed. A large part of the financial sector is doing debt, not equity. The GDP ratio is going back to the level of World War II. When one is using too much debt, its’ economy becomes too fragile to shocks. Today the financial sector is dealing with too much debt which raises the fragility of the whole system.
What is your opinion about how the United States, the European Union, Japan and their central banks are handling this kind of crisis?
What they are trying to do is called repression model. This basically means trying to hold down industry below level of inflation. If you can grow nominal GDP faster than the level of interest rates over a long period of time it will reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, which makes the economy less fragile, at least that is the plan. However they are trying to control interest rates, both short and long term rates. You have to have inflation above those long term interest rates. My view is that the major changes in emerging markets are bringing down global inflation and the developed world will feel to get inflation and keep inflation above these long term interest rates. As a result, their chosen solution is not working this time, because in a world where you are facing with deflation and nominal GDP is growing lower than these interest rates it looks like a “Japan scenario”.
According to some articles quoting you, they all say that you think the Japanese model is dangerous to a certain extent. Can you specify why?
Yes, it is dangerous on the short run for Japan’s competitors, and dangerous on the long run even for Japan itself. We are facing currency wars, which has the goal for everyone to become more competitive. The easy way to grow your way out of the problem is to depreciate your exchange rate. For example Italy in the end of the World War II found the solution to most of its problems through depreciation, and that is what the currency war is. Japan just won the currency war, it succeeded in depreciating its exchange rate, which means it cuts the dollar selling price of its products, and through this it takes market share from elsewhere of the world. If the global economy was blooming this would not be so negative. But with today’s economy this is harmful, because it is taking market share from elsewhere, from the major competitors, such as Korea, China and Germany at some stage also. The Japanese central bank is printing money to fund its government, and my opinion is that there is no plan b, as it is in Great-Britain with the repression model. They just force the savers to buy the government debt at very low interest rates, but the problem is in Japan the saving system is already full of government debt and is shrinking due to the aging population, so all of this will lead to a very high level of inflation. This is positive for the equity market for a few years, but not for Japan’s competitors nor for Japan itself on long run.
Strengthening of the US dollar versus the euro because of the major market players think the quantitative easing will be ending. What is your comment on that?
I don’t think the QE will end or that the US growth is as robust as people think it is. I think the underlying strength of the economy remains weak. I think the dollar is partially going up for that reason, the bigger reason is that we have severe problems in some emerging markets, and they scrambling to pay back their dollar loans. That is the key reason why is the dollar going up.
Are we at the start of the dollar strengthening of this period or already in the middle? What is your personal suggestion?
The strengthening has been on the way for 18 months, so it is not the beginning of the period, but it is not the end either. It will strengthen significantly further, until the end of the “emerging markets crisis”.
Has the US government or the FED the power to stop the strengthening?
When the demand for the dollar raised (the foreigners have borrowed dollars) and the dollar went up the FED always responded by slashing interest rates, trying to keep the dollar down, but it cannot do it anymore.
Talking about the euro zone, some of the experts say the problems revolving it have passed, others say it is the start of a big trouble. What is your opinion about the euro zone?
The euro zone is not starting to have a big trouble; its problems have not begun yet. The euro zone can’t exist, unless it makes major steps towards a federal system, federation of states or a banking union. I don’t think they can do that. The second thing is that all over Europe people are voting for nationalists, because they don’t want to move in to federal states of Europe. Some stage it will happen that people will vote for such a nationalist party which will satisfy the euro.
What kind of role is the UK playing today and what kind of role will be playing in the next few years?
The UK cannot be in the federal states of Europe, it cannot join the euro, so it has to play a different role, being outside the euro. Many other countries will come to be in the same position as the United Kingdom. This has the benefits of being in a “club”, but not the benefits of being in a federal system. These countries will be forced to have a similar opinion as the United Kingdom to be elected.
What you have just said suggests that USA will regain power, because it doesn’t have such political problems.
US has the major problems of its own, particularly in relation with the size of its debt, size of its deficit and the size of its retiring baby boom generation. However Europe has its problems, like the failure to create the political conditions necessary to have a single currency. If Europe would try this it would find itself in a slightly better situation than the US.
Do you think that China is facing big trouble or are these problems solvable and if China is profiting of these other problems?
I think there is a solution for China to take care its problems, and that solution means devaluing its exchange rate. Behind the barriers of its exchange controls China does not have a robust economic and financial system, but because it was running with large external surpluses it could run this system. The problem is their large external surpluses basically evaporated, and therefore to run a system like this they cannot do that with an overvalued exchange rate. Many people say China is on the verge of a banking crisis, I disagree with that. I think they are devaluing their exchange rate to avoid banking crisis, but that puts them in the middle of an international political crisis. The world lures a country which undervalues its exchange rate for 25 years, and when it’s overvalued for 20 weeks devalues it, so the China’s relationship with the world is the center of the problem here. There is a huge challenge for diplomacy to work on a global financial system, which works, because now we don’t have one. | https://fundblog.hu/from-generating-inflation-to-war-of-currencies-from-competitive-devaluation-to-real-war/ |
Chad Love: Are Coyotes Good For Quail?
One of the quickest way to start a gentlemanly debate among upland bird hunters (and it will remain gentlemanly, urbane...
One of the quickest way to start a gentlemanly debate among upland bird hunters (and it will remain gentlemanly, urbane and witty because, well, they’re upland bird hunters…) is to bring up the relative merits of predator control versus habitat. It’s also an argument that very much applies to prairie pothole waterfowl production, but since duck hunting debates often result in the angry flinging of decoys, I’ll save that one for later.
It would be reasonable to assume that having fewer coyotes in an area will result in at least marginally more quail, right? Sounds logical. Coyotes are, after all, predators who would never pass up the opportunity to raid a nest.
But according to this article from the folks at quailresearch.org (hat tip to the guys at Upland Journal for the find) the exact opposite may be true: a healthy population of coyotes might actually be beneficial to quail production. Why? Because coyotes prey on smaller mammals like raccoons, skunks and opossums far more than they do on quail. And guess which mammalian predators are the worst when it comes to nest predation on ground-nesting birds? Yep, raccoons, skunks and opossums.
From the story:
_It is tough being a quail. From egg to adult you are constantly tops on the dinner menu. But what do we really know about the predators of quail? Based on covert photography at nest sites, we tend to assume that raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, skunks and a host of other small predators spend much of their time on search and destroy missions against hapless quail. Yet predator removal programs consistently fail to create an abundance of quail. Something is amiss in our perception of the effect of predation on quail populations?
At RPQRR, we have an abundance of coyotes, a modest population of raccoons, but skunks are uncommon, and none of us has ever spotted an opossum, nor its tracks. Dr. Rollins hypothesizes that the coyotes suppress smaller mesocarnivores, either directly (i.e., preying on them) or indirectly (i.e., by restricting them to certain areas [e.g., riparian areas])._
It’s a great read for anyone concerned with the gradual range-wide decline of upland birds like the bobwhite, and it will certainly be interesting to see the group’s research turns out to support the hypothesis.
But here’s the rub: if it does turn out that healthy coyote populations mean healthier quail populations, what does that mean for hunting and trapping coyotes? Would you stop shooting coyotes where you quail hunt? What about deer? Would more coyotes have a detrimental effect on fawn survival? Does it inevitably turn into a question of what’s more important, quail or deer? Can you manage for both? | https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/hunting/2010/02/chad-love-are-coyotes-good-quail/ |
Q:
Combining java.util.Dates to create a date-time
I have current have two UI components used to specify a date and a time. Both components return java.util.Date instances representing the calendar date and time respectively. My question is:
What is the best way to combine these values to create a java.util.Date instance representing the date and time? I would like to avoid dependencies on Joda or other 3rd party libraries.
My current solution looks like this (but is there a better way?):
Date date = ... // Calendar date
Date time = ... // Time
Calendar calendarA = Calendar.getInstance();
calendarA.setTime(date);
Calendar calendarB = Calendar.getInstance();
calendarB.setTime(time);
calendarA.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, calendarB.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY));
calendarA.set(Calendar.MINUTE, calendarB.get(Calendar.MINUTE));
calendarA.set(Calendar.SECOND, calendarB.get(Calendar.SECOND));
calendarA.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, calendarB.get(Calendar.MILLISECOND));
Date result = calendarA.getTime();
A:
public Date dateTime(Date date, Date time) {
return new Date(
date.getYear(), date.getMonth(), date.getDay(),
time.getHours(), time.getMinutes(), time.getSeconds()
);
}
you can corvert this deprecated code to Calendar obtaining your solution.
Then my answer is: no, you cannot do better without using joda
NB
jodatime soon will be standardized with JSR 310
A:
I think you're approach is the best you're likely to get without using Joda time. A solution using SimpleDateFormats might use fewer lines, but is not really giving you any benefit.
A:
Using Calendar
public Date dateTime(Date date, Date time) {
Calendar aDate = Calendar.getInstance();
aDate.setTime(date);
Calendar aTime = Calendar.getInstance();
aTime.setTime(time);
Calendar aDateTime = Calendar.getInstance();
aDateTime.set(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, aDate.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH));
aDateTime.set(Calendar.MONTH, aDate.get(Calendar.MONTH));
aDateTime.set(Calendar.YEAR, aDate.get(Calendar.YEAR));
aDateTime.set(Calendar.HOUR, aTime.get(Calendar.HOUR));
aDateTime.set(Calendar.MINUTE, aTime.get(Calendar.MINUTE));
aDateTime.set(Calendar.SECOND, aTime.get(Calendar.SECOND));
return aDateTime.getTime();
}
| |
This summer, Boston witnessed the trial and sentencing of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the Boston Marathon bombing and the death of Usaamah Rahim, a man Boston authorities say was monitored for his suspected involvement in a plot to kill police.
Boston is also one of three cities, selected in February, for the launch of a pilot program with the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the National Counterterrorism Center to “counter violent extremism.”
According to the DHS website, the three key goals of the pilot programs are to better understand “violent extremism,” support local communities, and support local law enforcement. But a major concern is that these programs encourage an “improper characterization of American Muslims as a suspect community” and that federal efforts to engage their communities are unfairly and inaccurately linking American Muslims to foreign groups like the Islamic State.
The new pilot program launched in 2014, and it is the latest in a number of domestic counterterror initiatives in recent years. In particular, it builds on the 2011 White House strategy for “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States,” the first national strategy for countering domestic “violent extremism.”
While the White House plan claimed the strategy would “be applied to prevent all forms of violent extremism,” it indicated agencies would prioritize preventing “violent extremism” and terrorism “inspired by al-Qa’ida and its affiliates [which have been identified as] the preeminent security threats to our country.”
The plan emphasizes the importance of community engagement in preventing violent extremism and points to related government initiatives aimed at building ties between law enforcement and community members. This includes the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and DHS’ “See Something, Say Something” campaign.
Encouraging communities (specifically Muslim communities) to report suspicious behavior seems to be a key part of these programs. To facilitate reporting, DHS provides a “Functional Standard of Suspicious Behaviors” that both law enforcement officials and concerned citizens can reference.
Some of the listed behaviors are fairly objective, such as breaching an area with limited access to the public. Others leave much more room for interpretation. For instance, “eliciting information” is defined as questioning individuals at a potential terrorism target “at a level beyond mere curiosity,” and photography at potential targets (which can also often be tourist attractions).
While the press releases, fact sheets, and other government publications have sections discussing civil liberties, representatives of a number of Muslim organizations, and civil liberties groups remain concerned that American Muslims are disproportionately targeted for surveillance. Advocates and local community leaders contend the DHS drive for community members to report on each others’ activities is viewed as ripe for potential abuse.
Shannon Erwin is co-founder of the Muslim Justice League (MJL), a Boston organization which provides legal representation to Muslims who have been approached by the FBI. Erwin is concerned that the program plays upon pre-existing prejudices.
“This is already intensifying the false ‘good Muslim, bad Muslim’ dichotomy and creating divisions within our community,” she said.
Erwin said she first learned of Boston’s CVE program when Lisa Monaco, President Obama’s Homeland Security Advisor, announced it at a speech at the Harvard Kennedy School in April of 2014, but MJL’s attempts to learn more over that summer met with dead ends. In the fall, she learned that under the program, the Department of Justice had formed two working groups focused on countering “violent extremism.” One was composed of civilians who DOJ considered to be leaders of Boston’s Muslim community and was focused on civic engagement. The other was primarily law enforcement officers and terrorism researchers and was focused on threat assessment.
She has attended a number of meetings with DOJ called Bridges that are meant to connect DOJ, DHS, and the Muslim community. Even before the official launch of the Boston CVE program, Erwin found these meetings to be frustrating and said that the discussions there do not translate into policy changes.
When a representative from DHS attended a meeting, Erwin recalled, the representative essentially seemed to urge members of the Muslim community to police each other. “The pitch was made that, you know, ‘we as a government know we can’t police ideas and speech … that’s where you guys come in.’”
Referring again to the “good Muslim, bad Muslim” dichotomy, she said that the CVE program frames those who have grievances and talk about civil rights in the “bad Muslim” camp. “It is asking the ‘good Muslims’ to police the ‘bad Muslims.’”
“Clearly, this targets a single community, and creates the appearance that the Muslim community poses a disproportionate threat,” said Corey Saylor, the director of the Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). “You have not seen similar engagement of other groups that might be a natural fit for a program to combat violent extremism, such as white supremacists.”
Saylor also pointed out constitutional concerns about the program. “The US government is putting itself in a position where it can be seen as approving of one version of Islam over another.”
Erwin expressed concern that the CVE program relies upon a theory of radicalization that has been disproven.
“[These programs] are deflecting attention from the real causes of violent extremism. They shift public attention away from our foreign policy, imperialism, and climate injustice,” she said.
Erwin cited the FBI’s use of radicalization models, which focus on ideology over other factors, despite multiple studies showing those models are inaccurate or incomplete.
“It has a chilling effect on speech and dissent. Mosques already feel unsafe, and programs like these undermine our sense of community,” Erwin argued.
While there have been a number of other domestic counterterror initiatives since the September 11th attacks, Erwin maintained this initiative is different because it focuses on having individuals and communities report on each other’s activities.
“There is aggressive recruitment of non-law enforcement individuals to act as a soft arm of law enforcement,” she said.
While Saylor commended some of DHS’s outreach efforts, such as Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s recent attendance at a national retreat for the Muslim Student Association, he also expressed concerns about times when DHS and FBI efforts to engage and monitor the Muslim community has backfired or crossed the line into entrapment. He cited a case in California, where an FBI informant infiltrating a mosque seeking out extremists wound up being reported to the FBI himself by concerned members of the community, and the case of the Newburgh Four.
In Minneapolis, another pilot program location, there have also been reports of harassment. “Community engagement” has allegedly translated into FBI agents showing up unannounced on the doorsteps of Muslims and asking intrusive questions about the residents’ beliefs, family history, and relationships with foreign family members.
FBI and DHS domestic counterterror efforts predating the current CVE programs have used the guise of community outreach to gather intelligence on Muslim communities.
“When people hear the concept of countering violent extremism, they’re very supportive,” Saylor said. “But when they start to hear the nuts and bolts of government involvement in these efforts, that’s when we start to see red flags.”
In many cases, Saylor said less government involvement would be more effective at countering “violent extremism.”
“It eludes me how people can find a group like ISIS appealing, but for those people, the government is not going to be a credible source [for countering extremist rhetoric],” he said. Instead, he thought the government would do best to support initiatives within Muslim communities to counter extremism by helping them connect with independent funding, and then staying out of the way.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Justice Department responded to our requests for comment by the time of publication. | https://shadowproof.com/2015/08/05/dhs-pilot-program-encourages-boston-muslims-to-spy-on-each-other/ |
How Does Medical Liability Fit Into the American Tort System?
The word 'liability' carries certain negative connotation. It generally evokes a perception of being ‘burdensome' ‘bothersome' and arguably, a 'nuisance.' As a result, any cause for liability is to be avoided, at all costs. This is a disposition that benefits both consumer and industry. In theory, the consumer does not want to have a reason to sue and the industry does not want to give them, leading to increased standards of quality for whatever good or service is rendered - indicating the practical function of liability.
If and when a claim does arise, the judgment of liability will be handed down within the tort system, the area of the justice system dealing exclusively with issues of liability and breaches of duty. The tort system has long courted controversy; lawmakers, constituents and commentators alike are eager to chime in with their two-cents. Many call it a broken system, citing exorbitant costs the effects of which ripple to a number of other social areas, compensating the few at the cost of the many. Detractors offer some valid points, but the fact remains that a tort system is necessary for the protection of consumer rights (which includes 'consumers' of medical services) and public safety at large. If there is no punishment in place for considerable mistakes, what's to deter them? Medical liability for tortuous acts serves a particularly important function in maintaining the integrity of medical standards. It is nearly impossible to have a discussion of tort law without discussing one of its most vital manifestations - medical tort law. More than any other industry, room for error in medicine is slight, and a strict adherence to standard is critical.
To explore the place and importance of medical tort law, let us begin with the basis of the greater tort system. ‘Tort' is a word from the French language; in legal terminology is means a civil wrong. A person who commits a civil wrong is called a tortfeasor. If sued they become the defendant in the suit. To be liable for tort, the alleged tortfeasor must have had a legal duty to the plaintiff. Duty is defined as ‘an obligation, to which the law will give recognition and effect, to conform to a particular standard of conduct toward another.' A special legal relationship between plaintiff and defendant is not present in all tort cases, but for medical malpractice cases it is almost uniformly present. A tortuous act can either be classified as misfeasance or nonfeasance. Misfeasance indicates that the individual took incorrect action (such as prescribing the wrong medicine for an illness). Nonfeasance indicates that the individual failed to take any action (prescribing no medicine at all). Unlike criminal cases which are initiated by the state, tort cases are civil suits initiated by the wronged party. Medical malpractice, in most cases, is a civil wrong.
'Civil wrong' is distinguishable from offenses we would classify as 'crime.' An individual will be liable for failing to meet their reasonable legal duty not to harm another party, but the action is not necessarily 'criminal.' For example, sloppy medical care that proximately injures a patient is a punishable civil wrong, but it is not a criminal feat and usually will not constitute jail time (except in extraordinary cases). Given the elevated stakes and penalties of criminal cases, there is a higher burden of proof levied on the prosecution. Tort cases only require a preponderance of evidence, while criminal cases require the standard of evidence be ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.' The greater tort system encompasses a vast array of civil wrongs, some of which do amount to crimes.
Balancing the interests of injured parties and accused tortfeasors has been a complicated legislative endeavor. Each state writes its own tort law, often seesawing back and forth in their legal disposition. Efforts to legislate evenhandedly are usually tainted. Most states' laws exhibit a degree of favoritism toward patient or provider, ironically in an effort to offset previous legal favoritism to the other party, whether it was an intended or unintended consequence. Tort is not limited to physical, emotional and economic injury/loss. Its reach includes auto accidents, false imprisonment, defamation, product liability, copyright infringement, and environmental pollution (toxic torts.) Torts may be the result of negligence, or could have been intentionally carried out to deprive another person of safety, privacy, property etc. Prior to the Federal Tort Claims Act, sovereign immunity shielded the federal government from tort suits, even if a blatant tort occurred (i.e. a postal worker hitting a pedestrian). The FTCA opened up government employees acting within the scope of employment to be susceptible to tort suits.
Tort law is the mediator between wrong and remedy. However, not every wrong is the domain of tort law. Drug possession or murder, for example, are not torts. Tort constitutes an evidential departure from an individual's explicit or implicit duty. In medical malpractice cases, a doctor is guilty of malpractice if the plaintiff satisfactorily proves that they deviated from the “duty of care” which they owed to the patient by nature of their profession and proximately harmed the patient by deviating from that standard. That is to say, there was an expectation, legal or implied, of best conduct not to injure (injure here having broad meaning) which the tortfeasor failed to meet.
Tort suits can be broken down into a few general categories. Negligent torts, intentional torts, and strict liability. Strict liability is at the heart of class action suits, usually imposed on manufacturers to maintain the integrity of products on the marketplace and ensure no product is harmful to a consumer when used. Unlike negligent torts, which are best described as harmful acts of carelessness, intentional torts occur when the tortfeasor was aware of the consequence of their action and knowingly proceeded with the goal of obtaining that result.
The primary function of tort suits is to secure compensation for the injured party. Punishing the tortfeasor is secondary by comparison, which is accomplished by imposing financial strain since jail time is usually off the table for acts of negligence, except in especially reckless cases. However, tort law was not conceptualized purely for the purpose of providing monetary damages - it is also an essential tool for enforcing industry standards. Liability for medical torts is especially critical to public safety, ensuring medical personnel is aware of the consequence of providing a poor quality of service, thereby deterring careless mistakes.
Medical care is a service purchased by consumers, as it has not yet reached the status of a universal right, but with human life involved, the stakes of medical care are much higher, and there should be very little room for error. In other professions, there is room for error and the results of error are hardly detrimental. If a cashier forgets to include your receipt, doesn't bag an item you paid for, or a store associate doesn't lead you to the proper aisle, or a barista uses whole milk when you asked for skim - these are all common workplace errors for which none of these hypothetical workers could be held legally liable. If some law were in place that would make workers legally and financially liable for these mistakes, you can almost be assured that their incidence would drop dramatically.
They would still occur, undoubtedly but instances would be far rarer. This is why medical malpractice liability is in place. Not only as means for injured patients to secure compensation for their injuries and suffering but to maintain the integrity of fairly airtight medical standards. Human life is far too precious to have an overly condoning legal system that does not adequately police potentially injurious or fatal medical error. Every field within medicine has an explicit and accepted standard of care which, even if not laid out in legal doctrine, is known and uniformly practiced by all professionals in that practice area. This is why expert testimony became an essential facet of medical malpractice law and a facet of tort reform in states that had no legal requirement for expert testimony on the books. It is up to the testimony of a medical expert in the same field as the defendant to determine whether or not a breach of the standard of care occurred.
However, this creates a unique and perhaps ethically questionable situation whereby medical professionals, by virtue of the relative enigma of their profession are subject to a sort of self-policing. Physicians of a given field do not convene to think of ways to cheat the patient by creating faulty standards of care and then universally accepting them in their field, however, regulations are self-guided and there is no objective third party laying down the guidelines for the standard of care in a given medical practice field.
Decades of medical malpractice court decisions have yielded millions in damage awards to injured plaintiffs, but in this very sensitive and interwoven system, there have been many unintended consequences. Defensive medicine is a term for doctors who practice with the fear of liability in mind, ordering an excess of tests, scans and sometimes procedures and treatments so as to be overly certain that they have not failed to notice or treat the patient's malady, thereby eschewing liability. This leads to an elevation in healthcare costs.
Although inflation is at fault for increasing damage amounts, at least in part, the increasing scale and frequency of damages awarded in malpractice cases have led healthcare providers to obtain malpractice liability insurance for which premiums keep going up. Increased expenses for physicians means increased costs for the services they provide. This proximately contributes to rising healthcare costs. States have attempted to combat this liability insurance issue by establishing injured claimant funds which will pay out damages to a winning plaintiff for amounts exceeding $1,000,000 (in Wisconsin), thus physicians are only required to keep liability insurance up to 1 million dollars. They also must make annual contributions to the fund, but the overall cost is less than what it would be with exclusive liability insurance for amounts greater than $1 million. Still, these efforts have not entirely curbed the effect of heightened health care costs. California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act has been heralded as an excellent model for tort reform.
Many issues and general conundrums face the tort system, which serves its purpose too well at times and at others falls entirely short. States that have imposed damage caps for plaintiff awards in tort cases battle the question of if this is a form of deprivation of rightful compensation. Elsewhere, damage awards are extravagant even if subject to a cap, given the nature of the suit that engendered them. Defendants found guilty in tort cases could also be liable for punitive damages, which do not function to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the guilty party. There is discord among experts and tort scholars as to whether or not recent years have really seen a “litigation explosion,” with each side presenting conflicting statistics.
Not to say tort was an area of law that was freeform or poorly regulated, but after observing the effects of a tort system that was feebly constructed with regard to how tort suit decisions would affect other aspects of society, the need for reform was elucidated. Detractors of the tort system allege that it is frightfully inconsistent, with great variation in treatment from state to state, county to county, and even court to court; they allege that frivolous suits clog the court docket, and that tort cases exact an exorbitant cost which has come to undermine the integrity of many industries. Tort law has a unique relationship with healthcare and medical malpractice has been cited as one of the reasons. | https://www.gilmanbedigian.com/how-does-medical-liability-fit-into-the-american-tort-system |
Mia Ibrahim, CityLax Volunteer Coach and KIPP’s Academy Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach, with teammates at the CityLax Southampton Shootout
Mia Ibrahim describes herself as “the nerdy dorky band girl” who became a music major and is now a music educator and clarinetist—but she’s also a CityLax lacrosse coach and the head girl’s coach at KIPP’s Academy. A true teacher, she started teaching clarinet lessons out of her garage in high school to the local neighborhood kids, and now balances her time between helping students learn how to play musical instruments in the classroom and coaching NYC girls in the game of lacrosse outside on the field.
Originally from Detroit, Mia moved to Davis, California before starting high school, which is where she first picked up the sport. She recalls, “One of my bandmates was really nervous to try out, so she asked if I could try out with her so she wouldn’t be alone on the field.” Mia’s friend ended up getting cut, while Mia made the team. She fell in love with the sport and continued on to play attack as a DII player at San Jose State University. After graduating, the SJSU coach quit during the middle of the season, so Mia offered to step in and help “keep the team afloat”— and thus began her first coaching experience.
Mia then moved to New York City to study Music Education at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. Shortly after, she began volunteering with CityLax. “I definitely wanted to give back to the community, but I’m also a good teacher and I enjoy teaching others and working with anyone (a kid or an adult) who is trying to develop themselves as a person, so CityLax seemed like a good fit,” Mia explains. “I doubted myself as a coach at first, because I have a very happy-go-lucky demeanor in my classroom, but then I realized that out on the field at CityLax, that actually worked to my advantage and that positive reinforcement really does have the same great effect on the field as it does in the classroom.”
Beyond her coaching approach, however, Mia still sees some very marked differences between her classroom at PS 29 and on the field at CityLax—“I want to push boundaries out on the field more so than in my classroom, because I think music-making is such a vulnerable experience, but lacrosse is a chance to really go for it, and just be 100 percent and not worry ‘oh they’re going to judge me for that note.’ In lacrosse, you drop a ball, you pick up a grounder—it’s a teamwork thing and you learn that it’s going to be fine no matter what.”
Other lessons that Mia hopes to convey to her student-athletes are to “be yourself, enjoy the sport, be proud, and have fun.” Being surrounded by teammates and coaches who were gay helped her to come out and to be proud of who she is. Mia says, “Even when I was closeted, just being around people who were like me made me feel comforted. And the sport itself helped, because it’s about being bold and being yourself and having fun. I also want my student-athletes to realize that they’ll get out what put in.” She recognizes that many of the girls she coaches have an ambition to explore horizons beyond the South Bronx, and so Mia strives to show how the skills they learn on the field can translate to academics and other areas of their lives. “I’m just excited to see how their character is built and how rigor shows in everything they do.”
Rhea Lyons, CityLax Volunteer Coach
Rhea Lyons, a midfield player from Littleton, Colorado, is the site captain and head coach of the Brooklyn CityLax Winter Clinics at James Madison High School. She loves literature and works in the publishing field. Rhea began playing lacrosse in middle school and continued throughout college at University of Rochester before moving to Brooklyn, where she joined the Central Lacrosse Club. Upon meeting Sabrina Alimi, another CityLax volunteer, Rhea was introduced to Doc’s and CityLax and became a volunteer coach for the CityLax Winter Clinics, where she has continued for the past nine years. Reflecting on her own experiences as a female student-athlete and professional, she strives to teach the girls at her clinics important life skills, such as teamwork. Rhea explains, “It’s really frustrating to see powerful women push down other women to succeed. I want to give the girls a sense of healthy competition and teach them what it means to be an athlete in a pure sense of the word—on the field, mentally, and in their regular lives, how to be competitive and push yourself but how to simultaneously pull up people with you.” Rhea believes these lessons will help both on the field in game situations, and in the classroom, such as when working on group projects or preparing for a ranked test. “As a volunteer, I feel like I’m in a position where I can help teenage girls come into their own and embrace their own power. I get to see them grow over the years, which is really inspiring.”
Chelsea Ruebling, CityLax Volunteer Coach
Chelsea Ruebling has been playing lacrosse so long she claims she learned how to cradle before she could walk. Her father, Chuck Ruebling, a long-time family friend of the Levines and supporter of CityLax, ensured that Chelsea would be a life-long member of the lacrosse community. After playing at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Chelsea moved to Australia to pursue a career in investment banking. When she moved back to New York, she and her brother started an organization called “Go, Fight, Win!” which supports different lacrosse organizations and players through funding, equipment drives, and organizing clinics, camps, and showcase tournaments. Chelsea knows firsthand the important balance of fun and working hard to develop skills, and puts a great deal of focus on developing her players’ skills so that they can grow their passion for lacrosse. Chelsea describes, “I feel very privileged that I have been able to volunteer with CityLax—I love going to the clinics on Sundays, especially while most of my friends are sleeping, and I just feel really fortunate that I have been able to be a role model and positive influence in so many girls lives over the years. The most rewarding thing for me is seeing someone through the full four years and how excited they are to say, ‘Coach, I got accepted to these colleges and this is what I’m going to do!’ when I knew them back as a freshman when they were trying to just get their feet beneath them.”
“What is important is not where someone starts, but what is done with the opportunities given to them.”
Warm Greetings,
My name is Elianna Sanchez and I am currently a junior attending SUNY Oswego with a major in Wellness Promotion and a minor in Biology. During my three years at SUNY Oswego, I have been fortunate enough to play as a lacrosse goalie for the Women’s Lacrosse team.As I continue to grow, I can see how much lacrosse has developed my mind to focus on activities that align with my true self.
The first time I ever picked up a lacrosse stick was in 10th grade during a gym class at John Adams HS in Queens where my teacher was trying to recruit people for a new lacrosse team.During that time, my slim knowledge of the sport was solely based off of the occasional viewing of a T.V. show, which showed the main character as a lacrosse player. Overall, it was a foreign sport to me, but this opportunity sparked my curiosity and I was eager to try it. For the next couple of weeks I learned the basics of passing and catching during gym class. I automatically knew that I wanted to tryout but I was also very aware of my lack of running skills, so I decided to try out as a goalie. The first time I got suited up and played in cage was during tryouts for the first year lacrosse program at John Adams High School. I could not believe the immense pain that such a small rubber ball could cause! I was in complete shock and all I could think was, “What did I get myself into?” Although I was utterly unaware of the magnitude of responsibilities and mental toughness companioned with being a goalie, I did know that I wanted to continue getting better.
The first lacrosse goalie that I ever met in person and had the privilege to work with was Mat Levine, cofounder of Doc’s NYC Lacrosse and CityLax. CityLax provided the assist to start numerous lacrosse teams, including my own high school, and also provided free accessible clinics throughout the winter and summer where I had the opportunity to work with different coaches and volunteers to improve my skills. I believe that the lacrosse programs that have been started by CityLax have been so successful because of the wraparound approach that the organization stands by. It is an organization that helps tackle all different types of issues in order for individuals to succeed on and off the field through the connection of lacrosse. For example, that day during tryouts, I did not know that my teacher would not only become my remarkable lacrosse coach for the rest of my high school years, but would also become a phenomenal mentor and role model who would guide me with love and compassion into my adulthood. Nor did I know that I would discover a passion for a sport that electrified me and made me want to strive for excellence in all areas of my life. This pushed me to put in the extra hours to get better so that I could be the best player I could be and show that what is important is not where someone starts but what is done with the opportunities given to them. This newly found passion simultaneously pushed me to get my grades up so I could meet the team requirements and be eligible to continue playing. Due to these actions, I was later able to join a college team, keep growing as an athlete and guide younger goalies throughout their lacrosse journey. In addition, I was able to get into to science program that cultivated my love for the health field and is allowing me to work towards my dreams of pursuing medical school.
I want to say thank you on behalf of myself and every other athlete that has been strongly impacted by the opportunities given by CityLax. This would not be possible without the help of all its players, volunteers, staff and donors. CityLax has provided much more than the equipment and funding needed for a new lacrosse team; more importantly, it has provided mentorship for student-athletes that are unique to each individual. I can say that I can see myself as a Latina lacrosse player who takes pride in my journey, which would not be possible without the support and care from the astonishing people who make CityLax so successful. The love that I have for the organization makes me play with extra passion in my heart, as I play to represent every member that has made CityLax exceptional. Thank you for supporting CityLax and for taking the time to change lives!
-Elianna Sanchez, Class of 2020 (SUNY Oswego)
“You’re only as good as your last play.”
This advice from a high school lacrosse coach still guides Omar Alhagiko and pushes him to keep striving for more. Now a Division I lacrosse player at Wagner College, the CityLax alum is looking forward to graduating this spring with a double major in Finance and Economics. He hopes to enter the world of finance and continue to be involved with lacrosse, a sport that has greatly impacted his life and made him who he is today.
As a goalie, Omar particularly valued the CityLax Winter Clinics, where he was able to gain extra coaching and mentorship from the volunteer coaches who were post-collegiate players. “CityLax was the first opportunity where I got to play full contact over the winter and got coaching from former college players. I know this was especially helpful to the rest of my teammates, as well, because it was a chance for us to get up and get after it during the winter when we weren’t allowed to practice as a team.”
Omar recognizes the influence he has over younger players from Staten Island and the fact that many of these students need the lessons of lacrosse. He explains, “At Curtis, there are a lot of kids who are well off, and then there are a lot of kids whose parents have gone through a lot and this is their way of getting away from it all.” Omar regularly back to Curtis to help coach practices and inspire the younger student-athletes with his story. One of these student-athletes is Omar’s younger brother, Bader. | https://www.citylax.org/about/citylaxstories/ |
This past fall, the Colorado Academy Athletic Department inaugurated the Captain’s Award, to be presented to the captain of a team that recently completed its competitive season, who reflects and possesses the qualities that we look for in our CA team captains—work ethic, integrity, leadership, commitment, dedication, and serving as a role model both on and off the field.
This trimester’s Captain’s Award goes to Senior swimmer Aly Gallagher. Gallagher was named the Tri Peaks League Swimmer of the Year this season for her efforts in swimming the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay, and the 400 free relay. “Aly is extremely passionate about many things, and she is truly a leader and a unique individual,” says Head Coach Beckie Mutz. “Aly never says ‘never’ and, everything is possible, everything! She has the utmost respect from her teammates and coaches. But most of all, it’s Aly’s compassion, caring, and love that make her the very best leader.”
More great leaders
Other team captains who were nominated for the Captain’s Award were Junior climber Hayden Wolfe, Senior boys basketball player Spencer Wootten, Senior girls basketball player Mia Cravitz, and Senior ice hockey player, Mac Behrhorst.
Head of Boys Basketball Steve Hyatt says that Wootten was extremely committed to his role as a team captain, and that he could always be counted on to lift up his teammates throughout the most challenging of times.
Head of Girls Basketball Cyndi Graziano believes that Mia Cravitz is the complete representation of a true leader. “Mia has been a great role model throughout the season, but also within the past two years and within the summer work we did this past year,” says Graziano. “She is extremely determined.”
Ice Hockey Head Coach Chris Delaney described his nominee, Mac Behrhorst. “Mac is a natural leader and displayed that throughout the year,” Delaney says. “He was a great influence on all the Freshmen on the team and led by example.”
Alex Penney, who heads the Climbing program, nominated Hayden Wolfe for the winter captain’s recognition. “Hayden is always working hard, on time, helping others, and being a leader by example,” says Penney.
Winter season
Led by these captains, our winter season CA programs and teams have proven once again to be among the best in the state. Swimming sent five individuals to the state meet, climbers competed in the regional and state tournament, ice hockey competed valiantly in their first Varsity season in more than 20 years, and girls and boys basketball finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the always-tough Metro League regular season and will advance well through their league and state tournaments.
A champion comes in many forms, but first, CA athletes need to commit and compete. The nominees for this winter’s Captain’s Award all worked extremely hard in the off-season to achieve what they accomplished during their competitive season. I’m thankful for these individuals, as they were all leaders of their specific teams and inspiring role models for their teammates and the general CA community. Congratulations to them all! | https://news.coloradoacademy.org/the-captains-award-for-winter-season/ |
Involving numerous plotlines set in 1980s India, Umrika is a story that attempts to emotively depict the complex business of growing up. At the same time the director demonstrates his inventiveness in incorporating a light-hearted commentary on the Indian myth known as America (Umrika). Winner of the Audience Award at Sundance in 2015.
Synopsis
A small village lost in the mountains of North India comes to life whenever young Udai sends a letter from “Umrika” along with copious newspaper cuttings. His brother Rama was still a child when Udai set out for the USA to find his fortune. Many years pass and, one day, the letters stop coming, so Rama decides to go in search of his brother. In Bombay he gets to the root of the mystery, having in the process various experiences which bring him closer to adulthood. The journey to find his brother ultimately becomes a quest to fulfil his own dream. The narrative overwhelms the viewer with the kind of epic dimension absent from European films – we sense a colourful life story behind every motif. The director is concise in his portrayal, he regards his characters with true empathy and with a sense of the dramatic, yet he leaves sufficient room for comic insight and an imaginative, witty commentary on the huge cultural differences between India and the USA. All this is lightly sprinkled with Bollywood sentiment, buoyed up by nostalgia for 1980s Indian pop tunes influenced by America.
Zdena Škapová
About the director
Prashant Nair (Chandigarh, India) is a director, screenwriter and producer. He was born to Malayali parents and grew up in Europe, Asia and Africa. Before settling as a filmmaker in Mumbai he worked in Paris, Prague, Berlin and New York. He took a course in directing and editing at NYU which gave him essential grounding and experience, yet he states he was most influenced by the many countries he visited and their various cultures, and by the making of his first film. He began with the short romantic comedy Max & Helena (2009), which was followed by the critically acclaimed feature Delhi in a Day (2011) where, through the eyes of a young Brit, we witness the changes major economic growth has brought India over the last two decades. Nair enjoys introducing humour to weighty themes, which also applies to Umrika, winner of the Audience Award at Sundance in 2015. | https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/3315276-umrika/ |
One of the things I like about writers is how everything in their lives influences the work and shoes up (consciously or otherwise) in their fiction. Is it any wonder then that I prefer reading authors with full-blown careers in their histories, a range of educational experiences, and backgrounds in alternate cultures and languages?
All of which is my way of seguing to this week’s EATING AUTHORS guest, Anna Kashina, who has a doctorate in cell biology and a day job at the PENN”s School of Veterinary Medicine. Anna was born in Moscow, coming over to the USA in 1994. In addition to more recent work in English, she’s published novels in both Russian and German. Her latest book is The Guild of Assassins, the second volume in her Majat Code series.
LMS: Welcome, Anna. I’m excited to learn about your most memorable meal, because even though you live in Philadelphia I know you’re not going to mention cheesesteaks.
AK: I was born and raised in Russia. As a native, I feel I am allowed to express an opinion that “Russian cuisine” is an oxymoron. There is no “cuisine” to speak of, besides perhaps borscht and pierogi, which are, essentially, vegetable soup with beets, and cabbage- or meat-filled pastries. Most of what is known as authentic Russian dishes is borrowed from other cultures, or restricted to creative pickling and curing for the purpose of preservation. Salt is the main spice and flavor in the Russian food and many people grow up learning of spices and seasonings only from books. On top of that, living in the Soviet Union added another layer to this rule: the only reliably available food were potatoes. In the early nineties I sometimes had to go for weeks eating nothing but.
With this kind of background, it seems odd to me that I grew up feeling very adventurous about food. I will try pretty much anything if it’s edible. OK, I put my limit at something alive that can feel pain while I am eating it–but that’s pretty much it.
When I met my husband, born and raised in China, my adventurous food streak was put to the test. Chinese cuisine is on the opposite side of the scale in flavors and variety. If it’s not poisonous, the Chinese will eat it–and you can bet they’ll manage to make a darn good dish from just about anything. My introduction to this concept started when my husband and I first went out to dinner, and it is still ongoing after 12 years of marriage. I have eaten and enjoyed deep-fried scorpions, bee larvae, and silkworms. I can dissect and consume an entire fish head using nothing but a pair chopsticks. Despite my looks, people in authentic restaurants believe that I am Chinese.
With all that, my most memorable meal was in 2005 when we visited Shanghai, China.
It was close to midnight when we checked into the hotel. The temperature outside was in the high nineties, Farenheit, with nearly 100% humidity. We were starving after a long day of traveling. The hotel was small, in one of the historic parts of Shanghai, and its restaurant had already closed. In search of food, we ventured into the maze of small streets outside the hotel, in the less touristy part of town (something I would never dare to do without a Chinese native by my side).
We saw the lights of a diner about two blocks down on a street corner. It didn’t look impressive, but lights and movement inside told us it was open. The rest of the area seemed deserted, so we decided this was good enough.
Inside, the decor was plain: five or six metal-trimmed plastic tables, painted walls with no decorations of any kind. It smelled clean, but not that promising. We took our seats in resigned silence, determined to like whatever we were offered, and asked the waiter to bring us the dish that requires the least preparation–assuming that it was likely the only thing on the menu.
Rarely in my life did I feel so happy about being wrong.
A minute or so later, the waiter emerged with a large bowl of boiled crawfish and two thick books, which he handed to each of us. The menus, their pages laminated to the point of being washable. Digging into the food, we flipped through in growing disbelief.
The book had over a hundred pages, featuring 2-3 dishes on each page, with color photos. Over 250 items on the menu, in a small corner diner. When we asked the waiter if they actually served all these dishes tonight, he leafed through and pointed to two or three toward the end which they did not have. Still disbelieving, we ordered several dishes, and they all came out promptly. Each was delicious, from the small soft crabs stir-fried in shells, to a special vegetable with a texture of bamboo and the taste of garlic stems, which, according to my husband, didn’t have an English name.
We left the diner around 2 am, wishing we had an extra stomach. I made a list of things on the menu which I would like to try later on. In the morning, we left on a tour and never returned to that diner again.
Every time I am asked which city has the best food in the world, I say “Shanghai”. This is perhaps unfair. Not only did I travel to other places, in different countries, that serve wonderful food, but also I learned the hard way that not all authentic Shanghai food is that great. This city is also home to a particular style of tofu that has the texture and smell of manure, and the taste to match. This dish, cooked and served on many street corners, is apparently a local favorite and it makes the whole city smell like a poorly kept stable. I always find it amazing that memory of a tiny diner we visited in the middle of the night can overpower all that. And yes, I hope it is still open, and one day my husband and I can eat there again.
Thanks, Anna, though I have to chide you for dissing pierogis (otherwise, the spirit of my long passed Russian grandmother would haunt me.
Next Monday: Another author and another meal! | http://www.lawrencemschoen.com/plugs/eating-authors-anna-kashina/ |
Most franchises in the NFL would be ecstatic to trade places with the Philadelphia Eagles right now. At 9-1, the Eagles have used good defense and excellent quarterback play to get off to one of the best starts in franchise history.
While excitement and positivity should run rampant in Philadelphia, there is one major concern with the offense, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the players.
The turnover battle has appeared to even out over the last couple of weeks, but the play-calling and adjustments made by the offensive coaching staff have been quite alarming over the last three weeks. Whether it’s the league catching up to the RPO game, the lack of adjustments with key injuries, or just a lack of preparation, holes have slowly started to open up in Philadelphia’s armor.
Has the Eagles’ RPO formula been figured out?
The Texans were probably the first team that showed an ability to stop the RPO in key situations. Washington was also very strong against the Eagles’ bread and butter. The key to stopping an RPO is to press the receivers at the line of scrimmage, and have multiple waves of defenders keying on Hurts and the running backs.
Indianapolis did a superb job of that throughout the contest. If it wasn’t for Hurts playing like an MVP candidate, the Eagles would have probably lost that game. Changing a set offense is always difficult midway through the season, but the lack of adjustments has been alarming, particularly when regarding the RPO game.
It doesn’t help when the OL is downfield on most of the plays, but it feels like the Eagles are getting far too comfortable relying on the RPO which directly shows how frustrated the offense has been over the last couple of weeks.
Trust goes a long way
There were three main keys to the Eagles’ offensive struggles on Sunday: the overabundance of the RPO, mental mistakes in execution, and a lack of trust.
It’s crazy to think, but throughout the game, it just seemed that the Eagles coaching staff didn’t trust Jalen Hurts to make the plays with his arm as opposed to his legs. This is, of course, more complex than just that simple statement. The Eagles trusted their QB to make key plays throughout the game with his legs and it was Hurts’ leadership that pulled Philly out with the win.
But Hurts has shown the ability to win games with his arm. There’s no reason for the Eagles to limit themselves with him ONLY throwing RPOs and not letting him work the pocket.
Trust goes a long way. The Eagles trust Jalen Hurts to be the leader of the franchise and make plays with his legs. It’s time the Eagles’ offensive staff trust their quarterback to win games with his arm as well.
Is it just a midseason slump?
Slumps happen throughout an NFL season. Some teams have their slumps early in the year, some go through a late-season collapse. For the Eagles, their offensive woes over the last few weeks have matched the previous history of the franchise.
In the Andy Reid years, mediocre Novembers on offense would see the group stall and drop multiple games, only for the team to pick up their play late in the year for deep playoff runs.
The Nick Sirianni Eagles aren’t immune to slumps. The offense is clearly in one now, but it’s completely up to the coaching staff to fix them. Turnovers, bad penalties, and bad play-calling all go back o preparation and thinking too much. If the Eagles play more freely with the football and go back to what worked in the early slate of games, the success of the offense should come back in full force. | https://phillysportsnetwork.com/2022/11/22/eagles-coaching-staff-2/ |
Inmi Lee, Kyle McDonald:
Artist(s):
Exhibition:
Category:
Artist Statement:
I am interested in exploring art as research, especially as a form of cultural analysis. My work began with concerns of immigrant experiences and questions of why we assign certain values and meanings in our culture. Language has always been at the center of individual, familial, economic, and social struggles. My recent work investigates the fabric of language and communication through various media such as video, installation, interactive art, and performance art. Using technology, I deconstruct and reconstruct sound by studying sound topologically, visually, and semantically. I use technology both as a mediator, merging multiple fields of study such as linguistics, cultural studies, and neuroscience, and as a translator, converting/transferring one medium to another. Mother studies sound symbolism and explores synesthetic connections between language and shapes. It translates audible and intelligent communication into a visual and tangible form through the use of computation and 3D printing. Verbal descriptions of a set of unknown sounds, as well as the hand gestures used by participants to describe the sounds, are captured using XBox Kinect, extruded over time with a custom-built software made with openFrameworks, and finally printed into sculptures. In contrast to the unrecorded spoken language, which is ephemeral, language that is printed three-dimensionally becomes embodied in a physical form. In this work, the human translator is replaced by a computer. The concept of translation is thus stretched, expanded, and re-contextualized, providing a flexible way to see and experience language through a work of art.
Technical Information:
Mother is a series of generative sculptures that explore synesthetic connections between language and form by analyzing hand gestures that represent the participants’ interpretations of unfamiliar spoken words. The gestures of the participants were captured in 3D using a Kinect, interpreted with openFrameworks, and printed with a rapid prototyping machine. | http://digitalartarchive.siggraph.org/artwork/inmi-lee-kyle-mcdonald/ |
Fairhaven's Armand 'Pee Wee' Turgeon set national records in weight lifting
He wasn’t very tall — unless he was standing in the spotlight of athletic competition. Through various decades in a handful of sports few stood taller than Armand “Pee Wee” Turgeon.
Born in the late winter of 1927, Turgeon was an active participant in neighborhood sports through his pre-and-teenage years. But it wasn’t until he reached his 20s that his interest in athletics reached the “extreme” stage.
Pee Wee had a thing for acrobatics and in and around Greater New Bedford few could challenge the Fairhaven native in the performance of human feats of balance, agility and coordination.
With partner Eddie Zajac, the pair were regular performers in the grueling hand-to-hand routine in area YMCA competition. Pee Wee showed his individual skills by setting what was labeled a world record in handstand pushups with 39. But acrobatics were just an introduction to Turgeon’s affinity to extreme sports.
In 1955 at the age of 27, Pee Wee donned skin-diving equipment to win an all New England title in competition that featured more than 50 divers from New England, New York and Pennsylvania. The competition — held at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire — featured participants wearing self-contained underwater breathing apparatus on their backs with air tubes attached, face masks, fins and adjustable weighted belts. Working in pairs, the participants searched for different objects over a wide area on the bottom of the lake. Each object was marked with different numbers or letters and each participant was given a slate and chalk to note the markings they found. An object found at a deeper depth awarded more points to the founder’s total.
Turgeon and partner Brad Luther — also from Fairhaven — found more objects than any other team and compiled a winning total of 83 points which was six more than the runner-up team. The victory came in Turgeon’s first year of skin diving.
But Pee Wee’s claim to athletic fame would come in weightlifting ... a sport he would eventually fall in love with.
When he was 24, lifting weights was just a hobby to the short kid who was hoping to add some bulk to a skinny frame. By the time he was 30, Turgeon was a New England weightlifting champion.
In March of 1958, Pee Wee may have basked in his brightest spotlight when he broke his own Massachusetts record by 10 points after pressing 230 pounds, snatching 190 and clean and jerking 260 pounds to win the 148-pound title with a total of 680 points. He would win a number of weightlifting championships over an eye-popping career that continued well into his 70s.
A founding member of the popular George’s Gym in New Bedford, Turgeon would later set a National Masters New England record for his age group (70-74) and weight division in two weightlifting categories at the National Championships in Colorado Springs.
In his spare time, Turgeon tried his skills at bowling and in March of 1995, he bowled a perfect game on his way to a career-high 678 series at the fifth annual Mixed Handicap Doubles Tournament at Bowlers Country Club.
On Sept. 13, 2017, the athletic giant known as Pee Wee passed away following a period of declining health. He was 90. | https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/sports/2021/01/05/fairhavens-armand-pee-wee-turgeon-set-national-records-weight-lifting/3970468001/ |
Interview by Jennifer Walden, photos courtesy of Netflix, and Will Thoren. Please note: Contains spoilers
Sending a crewed mission to Mars seems more possible with each passing day. What tolls would the long trip take on the crew? What perils could they face in space, isolated from assistance on Earth? Netflix’s new series Away explores the potential physical and emotional impacts of long-distance space travel in a realistic (non-sci-fi) sort of way.
Sound designer/re-recording mixer Jon Greasley and re-recording mixer Greg King of King Soundworks brought the mission to life by making the environment inside the space capsule feel like a living machine. Life support systems, like water filtration and air ventilation, clatter and tick behind the walls. They use the Atmos surround field to immerse the viewer in the crews’ experience. In contrast, the sound team chose to be more constrained with their mix of the sounds on Earth, pulling sounds out of the Atmos surround field.
Here, King and Greasley discuss this approach to mixing and other ways they used sound — like applying IRs from various sized metal containers and using extreme EQ processing for the spacewalk sounds — to create a realistic, believable trip to Mars for Away.
Away | Official Trailer | Netflix
You’ve gone from the Cosmos: Possible Worlds docu-series — where you created sound for these abstract and mind-blowing scientific theories and facts — to the more practical, tactile, tangible view of space in Netflix’s Away series. How do these two experiences of creating sound for space compare to each other?
Greg King (GK): It was different and the same in a sense.
Cosmos was all reality; it was about showing the world and the cosmos in a way that not very many people get to see. So we had to create this world, this environment that was fantastical but still felt real and organic.
Although we wanted to help the story and the wonder of space, we still had to keep it within the realm of the plausible…
The same is kind of true for Away, in the sense that, although it’s a fictional series, it’s plausible. It’s quite likely that NASA or some variation thereof will be doing a manned mission to Mars in the relatively near future.
Although we wanted to help the story and the wonder of space, we still had to keep it within the realm of the plausible and had to treat it in a realistic fashion. We never crossed over into a purely science fiction world. We tried to be grounded in reality — authentic and possible. The approach we took going into the series was with that in mind.
Jon Greasley (JG): As Greg said, both approaches were within the realm of possibility. With Cosmos, it was a bit more fantastical because the imagery would take us inside, for example, the nucleus of an atom. That is a real thing but no one is ever going to experience what that sounds like.
Whereas with Away, it didn’t feel futuristic — to me it’s like the show is set in an alternate present, one where we collectively decided to invest in our future and exploration rather than wars of choice, for example. From the set design to the concepts, everything was completely conceivable within our lifetimes. It needed to sound like tech that you could believe would be on a ship that Space X might build a decade from now or something like that.
There are so many great references and ideas of what space should/could sound like. What were some of your inspirations when deciding how outer space in Away should sound? What’s unique about your version of how space travel can sound?
GK: Globally, we wanted the ship to be a character because they’re on the ship for a long time. They’re traveling to Mars and it takes several months. We didn’t want the ship to be just a place; we wanted it to be one of the characters in the story.
We made the decision early on to have a lot of mechanical things in the ship. There was going to be physical mechanisms rather than everything being digital and on the circuit board. We wanted to imagine in our minds a ship that had a lot of mechanical things in it, like gyros and mechanisms roaring and starting up. So that while there is a scene going on with dialogue and storytelling, the ship could still be this living, breathing thing in the background to constantly keep you aware of the fact that you are moving through space and that, more importantly, their lives were held in the balance, reliant on this ship operating properly.
We wanted the audience to feel the ship and hear it working.
When you’re watching the show, or any space show, you take for granted that the travelers are going to be safe and sound. But we never wanted the audience to be off the hook like that. We wanted the audience to always be aware that this is something that could fail. They even address failures in a multiple-episode arc on the show when the water system failed. Failures can happen and they can be life-threatening.
We didn’t want any instances of failures on the ship to be a surprise, to come out of nowhere. We wanted the audience to feel the ship and hear it working. And that’s where Jon took it to the next level. He created these mechanisms, like the air filtration system would have vents that open and close. The water system should have valves that open and close. The ship should be making navigational adjustments with little boosters that they have on the outside of the ship. All of these things should always be active so that we always feel like the ship is alive. Then, when something goes wrong, we have already set up the premise for that and it ups the ante.
Jon had the challenge of figuring out how to give these mechanisms a mechanical base but make them feel like they are more sophisticated, more elegant future-tech.
JG: The ship is a character and so it’s constantly reminding the audience that it is there even when the characters are just sitting around the table in the crew galley, conversing about whatever issues they are dealing with, either on their mission or back home.
They spend a lot of time in that setting and you are constantly reminded that the ship is ticking away in the background. There’s a tension and a peril to that because they’re in this tin can completely isolated from their families and they only have the resources that are on board with them (i.e., no help is coming). They are separated from 100%-guaranteed death by this cocoon they are in. So the tension that goes with their ship constantly ticking along reminds you subliminally that they are at the mercy of everything going the way it was planned and designed to.
Once you set up that baseline environment of this ship functioning in the background, you can add to it or take away from it when something goes wrong. These are little, subliminal shifts that people will hopefully not notice outright but will register on some level as they’re taking the story in.
They are separated from 100%-guaranteed death by this cocoon they are in.
To answer the other part of your question, about what makes our approach to space unique — you’ve got the two camps of Star Trek and the Star Wars. With the latter, more fantasy-based approach, you hear everything because it’s a ‘big action’ palette and you need all of those lasers and explosions to tell that story.
The other side is completely realistic. There is a complete and utter lack of sound in space because space is a vacuum. That’s not particularly exciting from a story point of view. The one show I can think of that did no sound at all out in space was Firefly, and I always respected them for that, but we didn’t want to go that way.
The showrunners on Away made some bold choices with music; there are long sections that don’t have music. And when we go outside the ship for the first time in Ep. 2, minutes go by before any score comes in. So it was down to us to use sound to tell the story of what’s going on with the ship. At that point, the solar panels were opening and they malfunctioned. We talked about making that completely realistic, where every time they go outside the ship we won’t have sound or music. You’d just be going off the visual. You could do that if you wanted to be realistic but it doesn’t really tell the story in a way that sound effects can do. So, we opted to do a filtered-off/effected version of sounds so you’re not hearing sounds like you’d be on Earth, but it’s more like you’re experiencing the sounds in a visceral way; you’re feeling the vibrations through the ship or you’re feeling the sound as the characters would while in the spacesuits.
…you’re feeling the sound as the characters would while in the spacesuits.
Like, when they connect their tether to the ship, they have this tactile interaction with the ship and the vibrations of that would be heard/felt through the suit. So the audience’s experience of a sound mirrors what the characters would be experiencing when outside the ship.
It wouldn’t be an exciting space drama without a few treks outside the ship! How did you create the sounds for the astronauts’ movements when they’re working outside the ship? They’re non-literal sounds, so was it more about effects selection and processing? Or did you record sounds in non-traditional ways?
GK: It was more about processing and effects selection. A lot of it was Foley, too. We have a great Foley team — Stefan Fraticelli and Ron Mellegers — who did this season for us.
If you go technically real for the exterior sounds in space, it’s a vacuum and so you wouldn’t hear anything. So we went with the concept of sound waves traveling as vibrations through objects. Like, if you put your ear up to a railroad track you can hear a train coming from miles away because of the vibration. So, if an astronaut’s hand is latching a carabiner onto a hook attached to the ship, then the sound would theoretically travel through their body and you’d get a sense of it. So we did that by recording the actual sound and then processing it mostly with EQ. We were bridging the two worlds of reality and unreality, where you have the vacuum of space but the sound could conceivably travel through the body to give you a faint sense of that sound.
There are moments where you can go completely silent and it has a nice dramatic effect. But for action, with people doing things and trying to get from point A to point B, the silence just doesn’t work. We used this hybrid approach to give you a sense of danger or a sense of how they’re just attached to the ship by this little tiny thread.
JG: In terms of the execution, it’s a mix of post-processing and actual recording. For processing, we did extreme EQs with steep filter roll-offs and extreme low/mid boosts. For some of the Foley for the spacesuits, I was boosting 20 dB of 250 – 300 Hz just to get this extreme resonance of the tactile feeling.
In terms of recording techniques for some of the specific props, the original idea we had was to use contact microphones. So you put a contact microphone on the surface and recorded the sound through the surface. But that’s really hit and miss. It depends a lot on the surface and how well it transfers vibrations through it. If the surface is very rigid, you don’t tend to get very much sound coming through it. The sounds you end up recording are thin and wimpy sounding. So that didn’t work out too well.
For processing, we did extreme EQs with steep filter roll-offs and extreme low/mid boosts.
The Foley team came up with a more practical solution, which was to mic the Foley as they normally would but then add a small mic either inside or behind whatever they were interacting with. So I always had two mics on the Foley for the spacewalk stuff and I could mix and match between the two or use one or the other. Then, with that extreme EQ, I could create the effect I wanted.
GK: We used the dialogue and the breathing to the same effect. We used varying degrees of futzing (processing to simulate audio coming through a radio or transmission) rather than just one fixed amount. The amount of futzing was always changing, depending on what was happening dramatically.
We had the actors record more breathing, too, so we could use that as a device.
For instance, if the actors are just talking and there’s not much happening action-wise, we have minimal futzing. The voice is more full-bodied. As the actors move away from camera and more into danger, we may intensify the futz and make it sound more pinched and smaller — like it’s coming through a crummy speaker or smaller microphone — to create a bigger sense of distance between us and them. We varied the amount of futzing to create a feeling of intimacy or a feeling of danger.
We did the same with the breathing where, if they’re spacewalking along the ship then they might be breathing at a faster rate or slower rate depending on the amount of tension or relief we wanted the audience to feel.
Popular on A Sound Effect right now - article continues below:
Latest releases:
The ship’s interior is filled with buttons, knobs, switches, alarms… what went into creating this palette of ‘functional’ ship sounds?
JG: We had our in-house library which is very expansive. So between that and all the other libraries that are available these days, we have every kind of switch and lever imaginable already recorded!
GK: For the creation of the environment inside the walls, Jon (along with fellow King Soundworks sound designer Dan Gamache) created all of these servos and mechanical sounds, for the air ventilation system and the water system and navigational adjustment system. All those mechanical whirs and whines that we hear, Jon either recorded or pulled from our library, and then processed and layered and edited those to until they sounded like they were tech from the near future.
JG: The biggest thing for making the ship interior sound convincing was to make them sound like they were coming from behind the walls, behind panels and sheets of metal. There was a lot of treatment on all the ship sounds to make them sound like they weren’t right there in the room with the people but were deep in the bowels of the ship. A big part of selling it was having it sound like there were layers of equipment that surrounded them.
There was a lot of treatment on all the ship sounds to make them sound like they weren’t right there in the room…
There are a lot of tactile sounds — a lot of switches and knobs — and we didn’t want there to be a lot of beeps and touchscreens because that tends to have a very disconnected feel. Having things sound more mechanical and like they’re solid objects that are physically moving instead of just feedback that’s coming out of the speaker, that always sounds more grounded in the action. So we definitely wanted to embrace it.
GK: Another aspect was that lucky for us, Netflix wanted to deliver the show in Dolby Atmos. So we used that as part of the soundscape for the difference between Earth and being in the ship. We made a conscious decision very early on that while we’re in the capsule that’s when we’re going to use the Atmos surround field to its full advantage so that we feel like we are in the ship with the crew and surrounded by these walls with all these mechanisms in them. We were using every aspect of the Dolby Atmos field — the side surrounds and the ceiling. We used all of that.
Then when we cut to Earth, we narrowed the sound field so that everything comes off the screen. We use less surrounds and — with the exception of one or two occasions, like the PA announcements in the Mission Control center — we tried to keep everything out of the Atmos field.
By reserving the Atmos field for the space ship, you feel completely immersed in that environment. You feel like you are in the cocoon of that ship.
By reserving the Atmos field for the space ship, you feel completely immersed in that environment. You feel like you are in the cocoon of that ship.
On Earth, it felt less immersive. But we did as many “home touches” as we could. Wherever we could we added voices, which was easy to do in the command center at the NASA facility, but when we’re in their houses in the suburbs, we wanted to always make sure we heard birds, or dogs, or a lawnmower, or something that always hinted to this as life-as-normal. It’s life-like.
This created a contrast with the space capsule, where all of that ‘life’ disappeared. It made you feel isolated in the capsule, and far away from Earth. That was another thing we could use to our advantage.
There’s a great episode called ‘A Little Faith’ in which the ship’s water system fails. You hear it groaning behind the ship’s walls. Can you tell me about your approach to that sound?
JG: That crisis extends into the next episode even. They’re in a situation where it’s entirely possible that they could run out of water at any minute if the system fully breaks. So the soundscape carries from one episode into the next, and it’s a constant reminder of the danger that they are in.
There are a lot of shudders and shakes as the different parts of the system drop out one by one.
It was fun to evolve that soundscape as the story arc develops. We set up the mechanics of the ship and had that behind the walls, inside another layer of the ship sounds. We took it a step further. What’s important is that it has to conceptually resonate to the viewer. It’s essentially the plumbing going bad and so it has to sound like plumbing. But it doesn’t have to sound like house plumbing. So, it has this resonant metallic feel to it. All the sounds we picked have a definite feeling of metal resonating and vibrating. There are a lot of shudders and shakes as the different parts of the system drop out one by one.
Also, the way we established the feel of the ship prior to that point, with it kind of ticking away in the background (there was a kind of rhythm to it), when the water system starts to fail it’s a lot more violent and becomes much more to the forefront. Things kind of jump out of nowhere.
There isn’t as much rhythm to it. It’s more jarring. It puts you off your balance and on your back foot and you’re worried about it.
What was in your processing chain to make it feel like the sounds were coming from inside the ship’s walls?
JG: It’s mostly made out of convolution reverbs taken from inside metal containers. It may be an impulse response taken from inside a small pipe, all the way up to large metal structures.
There are a couple of impulse responses in Audio Ease’s Altiverb that I used a lot, and those were captured inside a water tower and another was inside a giant metal pipe used to house fiber optic cables that they lay across the ocean floor. Someone at Audio Ease I believe went inside one of these giant cylinders and recorded an IR to capture what that environment sounds like. That was really cool to use, to give a sense of being encased in metal.
When the astronauts are on Mars, how did you effect the sound there? There’s an atmosphere on Mars so sound waves can travel…
JG: Yes, there is an atmosphere on Mars. And I looked up what kind of atmosphere Mars has and how that would affect the sound just to get a baseline for what reality would be. I found out that the atmosphere on Mars would make things sound thinner, less bassy, and the sound wouldn’t travel as far. Depending on where the story goes, that is something that we could potentially have more fun with.
The idea for the atmosphere that we built for the end of Ep. 10 was based off that idea that when they are outside the ship while it’s in space, everything sounds boomy, thick, and thuddy. In contrast, when they get to Mars, everything is thinner and wispier. It’s nice to have those two play off of each other in that way.
How did you use sound to help intensify the experience of landing on Mars?
GK: We wanted to make that as scary as humanly possible. No one has ever landed on Mars before. The broad stroke of that sequence was to make it sound like at any second that capsule was going to get ripped apart and the crew wasn’t out of danger until they touched down. That was the overall concept, that they’re not safe until they’re safe. They could shred at any possible second.
It cuts back and forth between these tense moments and these tender moments…
JG: The cool thing about the way the sequence is constructed is that it’s cutting back and forth between the families back at Mission Control listening to what could potentially be the final messages from the astronauts that they would ever hear and the astronauts themselves landing on Mars. It cuts back and forth between these tense moments and these tender moments of the children and husbands and wives taking in these messages from the crew.
Highlights from A Sound Effect - article continues below:
The landing builds and builds to this crescendo of rattling panels on the outside of the ship and a few panels fly off, which we had a lot of fun with in the Atmos format. There is fire and pieces of metal flying around and overhead as they burn through the atmosphere as the sequence progresses. That was definitely one of the most fun sequences to put together and then mix as well.
Because this isn’t a theatrical release (it’s streaming for TV), were you limited to ‘broadcast spec’ or were you able to really use the LFE channel to add sufficient low-end to make the audience feel compressed like they’re feeling the G-forces as the shuttle was landing?
JG: We had to conform to a certain spec, but Netflix’s spec is ‘better’ than broadcast. I prefer mixing to their spec because it’s well-considered in terms of where they want the dialogue to sit with respect to the maximum peak-level. The dialogue level is a little bit lower than what would be ‘broadcast spec’ and that allowed us a little more headroom so we were able to get a little louder in the moments where we wanted to get more intense.
Then, of course, people are going to watch it in stereo. There will be people out there watching it on their AirPods or tablets or whatever and so we had to mix for that too. When you’re listening to the Atmos version of the mix, it’s huge and there is stuff flying everywhere but then we definitely wanted to make sure that if someone is listening to it on their Chromebook speakers that they don’t lose that sense of danger. It’s a difficult balance to make but it’s one that we were definitely very conscious of. We wanted to straddle that line so that no one missed out on that experience no matter how they were watching the show.
GK: We always do multiple mix passes on small stereo speakers at a lower volume so that we can make sure that all the things we want to get across emotionally, sound-wise, translate over to the small speakers. We always do a pass on that so that if you are watching on a tablet or even a TV with stereo speakers, you’re going to get as much as you can possibly get out of it. We’re not just mixing for the best possible scenario and format and hope that people at home have a huge home theater system. We’re extremely conscious that a very large number of people will be listening to this on smaller speakers. We want to make sure they get the same enjoyment out of it. So we do multiple passes where we turn the Atmos speakers off and monitor the mix so we can make adjustments for these tiny speakers at a low volume, so that we know people can hear it at home on their TVs the way that we intended.
Please share this:
+ free sounds with every issue: | https://www.asoundeffect.com/away-netflix-sound/ |
The All Transit Performance Score is a comprehensive score that looks at connectivity, access to land area and jobs, frequency of service, and the percent of commuters who use transit to travel to work.
BCPA is an Online Property Records Search to research properties.
Envision Tomorrow (ET) is an open-access scenario planning package that allows users to analyze how their community’s current growth pattern and future decisions impacting growth will impact a range of measures from public...
Find Development projects within a certain distance from an address by searching a Fort Lauderdale address, clicking the “Find My Location” button, or by clicking on the map within Fort Lauderdale’s city limits.
The City of Fort Lauderdale has provided this GIS feature as a public information resource.
The Calculator reveals the benefits of affordable housing near transit to help developers select better sites, design unit mix, and educate the public and decision makers.
The map displays Long Island’s latest land use patterns on a property-by-property basis, small-area population and housing statistics from the Census Bureau, a district-by-district analysis of educational data, special...
NYCommons.org helps New Yorkers impact decisions about public land and buildings in their neighborhoods.
The online Smart Growth & Livability Calculator prototype is designed to help practitioners and researchers meet a variety of planning and design challenges related to corridors, station areas, and complete streets, climate...
The TOD readiness tool evaluates the degree to which an existing or potential transit station area is “ready” for TOD. | http://science.fau.edu/departments/urban-regional-planning/research/cues/planning-tools/?page=1&tags=land%20use |
Our collective ability to comment on any and all subjects as though our opinions should carry weight is an idea I grapple with nearly every time I open my mouth to talk to a group of people larger than my immediate family.
Sure, there are things I think I am informed enough to speak on in the broader community of people; things that I do feel like I have some expertise on; things where I think my perspective adds value to the conversation. I run a website after all. I’m not so dense to not see my own participation in the commodification of ideas as a way to influence others in order to shift the debate and move opinions in my own direction.
Yes, I do understand my own position in this grand scheme of takes-trading for dollars and influence. It’s big business.1For others, not for me. However, I also understand the limitations that inherently exist within a culture where everyone has a megaphone to offer up their thoughts on whatever they want. On what is right vs. what is wrong, on what is smart vs. what is dumb. There’s an entire media marketplace that thrives on people who argue.
For me, I participate when I think I can add something of substance, but know when I am out of my depth. As if it weren’t patently obvious already, I am by no means someone who has expertise in all avenues. Which is why I try to stay in my lane.
You want to ask me about the game of basketball or the Lakers, specifically? I’m probably good for a few cogent thoughts that are pretty informed. You want to ask me about growing up lower middle class as a mixed race person with brown skin in a small-ish town where ethnic diversity far outpaced diversity of world view? I can talk to you some about that, too.
Veer into some other subjects, though, and my first instinct is to listen to those with lived experience. To listen to those whose lives carry the impact of decisions they’re asked to not only make for themselves, but the decisions that are dropped on their heads by those with the power and hierarchical position to do the dropping.
In those instances, I find it’s best to try to be empathetic and understanding. It’s best to listen, maybe ask a few questions, and listen some more. This is how I try to live my life in order to seek out a better understanding of what’s important, and what’s not, from the vantage point of those who must not only live with the decisions, but are actively involved (in one way or another) in the outcomes.
What does this have to do with anything that should appear on a Lakers site that also covers the broader NBA world?
Well, with the NBA’s scheduled return bearing down on us, the debate about what the league is doing, what they are trying to do, what they should do, and what individual players decide is best for them rages on. Sides are staked out and opinions are offered based on the information we’re being told, not only by the participants themselves, but by those whose job it is to peddle sourced information to the masses.
The league is being proactive and their plan is as sound as it can be considering the circumstances.
The league is only out for money and no safeguards that are put in place can guarantee anyone’s safety.
The NBA should cancel its season.
The players are right to have reservations about going, both from a health concern standpoint and from one that tilts towards concerns about overshadowing the ongoing protests surrounding social justice and equity.
The players can use their position and profile to amplify their concerns and, by playing the games, can bring even more light to the issues relevant to them.
These are semi-simplistic representations of what’s being uttered to all of us, but you get the point.
Personally, I don’t know what to think. Which, frankly, is what happens to me a lot when I see reasonable arguments coming from both sides of an argument with plenty of nuance. I try to relate to the different perspectives while making up my mind. So I listen. And I try to be respectful.
I also try to understand my position as an outsider and one whose stakes in this are low, relative to those who are tasked with making the decisions and those whose impact by those decisions will be most felt. And that’s where I try to step back, again, and listen some more.
What I will say, though, is that if the argument is that none of this would be happening save for the money at stake, I agree fully–even if not in the way some might expect.
Basketball may be a child’s game, but the NBA is a multi-billion dollar organization with stakeholders all around the globe. And in this venture, the league and the players are partners, tied through a collectively bargained agreement that all involved adopted together.
When viewed through that reality, I’m also reminded that nearly nothing happens in this world unless there is money at stake. Our current reality of pandemics, too-visible-to-ignore police brutality, and systemic inequities for too many marginalized groups may be exposing the weaknesses and atrocities of Capitalism, but Capitalism is still up on the scoreboard. The money is, of course, the point. And all our hands (from consumers to content producers to players to team governors to the league itself) have at least some dirt on them.
I also believe that when some of the people who have a vested interest in maintaining (or, in this case, restarting) the operations which generate those billions are also the predominantly Black workforce whose agency and value is being questioned (if not undermined) based on their inclusion of a broader group of people, things start to get tricky very quickly. Particularly when it’s people outside of that group who start to trumpet solutions based on perspectives born from worldviews not always rooted in the same experiences as those they’re telling how to proceed.
There is a paternalistic viewpoint here that concerns me. As happens all too frequently, people who come from a more privileged group try to tell the people whose actual decision it is to make that they should do things a certain way. That one group’s agency should be replaced by the decision making of a group whose stakes in the outcomes are lower simply by their position of either being a full on outsider or someone who is affected less directly by that final decision.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for looking out for the greater health of the people involved. I do understand that there are real social issues that deserve our undivided attention. I understand that the risks could very well outweigh the rewards.
I also feel, though, that it’s probably not my place to tell a group of Black Americans how to best pursue their goals, be them professional, economic, social, or otherwise. No matter what I understand the health risks of a pandemic to be.
Maybe that sounds strange, but again, I’m an outsider, so I’d rather just listen some more to better understand the perspectives of a group of people who I should not try to speak or make decisions for. I can say, straight up, I am worried about COVID-19 and the NBA’s ability to keep it at bay in order to salvage a season on the brink. I am also worried about distracting from a movement in this country that I personally believe is long overdue.
What I will not do, however, is pretend as if my worries should supplant those of the active participants (namely, the players), whose decision it is to make about returning to action. To say nothing, for most of them, of having to simply exist in a world where the value of the lives of the greater group that they belong to (and are leaders within) has now been placed into the center of our national dialogue. Nor how the opinions on and concerns about their choices to return to play by a lot of people who do not look like them might be juxtaposed against the larger discussion going on about how much the lives of the people who do look like them matter.
You see, part of understanding my own position is that there’s a certain privilege I carry by not being part of this group. That privilege allows me to judge from the outside without having to fully deal with or reconcile the ramifications of…well…anything related to any of this, really. I’m not a Black American. I’m not someone whose history is littered with these specific plights and where the impacts are still felt today.2Fwiw, I am half Native American and half Filipino so I certainly have some perspective on a different set of plights and have had my own experiences with people who have felt the need to put me in my place. So not only will I not act like I know best, I won’t even pretend to know the considerations at play when trying to determine the best way to proceed.
Of course I have opinions. I just recognize those should come secondary to those who make risk/reward assertions when simply leaving their house…and have done so long before there was a global pandemic to consider. | https://www.forumblueandgold.com/2020/06/25/perspective-privilege-and-the-return-of-the-nba/ |
Cyborg Controller is an interactive workshop window installation built around a remote-controllable toy cyborg with a little doll head. Over several weeks, a miniature world kept growing around the cyborg, so there was always something new to discover. People could walk the cyborg to different locations with their smartphones and let the cyborg interact with its theatrical environment by pushing all kinds of buttons and triggering sensors.
Created by: Niklas Roy & Kati Hyyppä
Stuff used: | http://shakethatbutton.com/cyborg-controller/ |
Dance is a great way for kids to get active and express themselves creatively. Ballet classes at the YMCA allow students to discover the basics and beauty of ballet in a safe, fun, social atmosphere. From the first plié to the final performance, dancers of all skill levels will enjoy taking ballet at the Y. Students will learn age-appropriate dance techniques of ballet at the barre, including basic positions, arm, hand and leg movements, good posture, and more. Dancers of all skill levels are always welcome to join ballet classes at the Y!
*Dance recital outfit (to be determined in class), required for dancers who participate in Winter 1, Winter 2 and Spring sessions. | https://grymca.org/programs/youth-ballet |
Michael McKay, Assistant Professor at University of Kentucky College of Design (UK/CoD) shared with us his impressions from the PERFORMA workshop he recently taught at Lund University, School of Architecture, Department of Theoretical and Applied Aesthetics in Sweden. The two-week workshop was part of a semester long studio, directed by Abelardo Gonzalez, composed of visiting guest professors.
Here's Michael's report:
The PERFORMA workshop at the LTH School of Architecture is an intensive two-week workshop based on research involving material systems and design strategies. This work seeks to create multi-performative material systems utilizing optimization, aggregation and efficiency. Simple units and semi-finished materials are physically tested in order to extract potential performative characteristics and limits. These limits are then negotiated through rigorous digital and physical techniques in order to produce strategies of fabrication. The formal systems have inherent structural capacities and an ability to adapt to changing conditions. Because of the system pliability, variation can occur within a seemingly homogenous system.
The first part of the workshop involves an intensive investigation of innovative surface and structural systems through experimentation with unit aggregate systems. By experimenting with the characteristics of the unit behavior a multi-performative material system will emerge. This is done by physically testing the limits of aggregate systems, cataloging those limits, and then introducing digital tools to experiment with possible strategies. These experiments will evolve into a full scale installation based on the system strategies and scaled prototypes.
The second component of the workshop will be to research and test materials in order to fabricate a full-scale installation. The material research falls into two categories - Semi-finished and Component Materials. Semi-finished is defined as a material between its raw state and finished product. These are materials in a dimensional configuration waiting to be transformed. Components materials are materials that have already been determined / measured for final use. Participants are free to investigate any and all material possibilities - wood, steel, fabric, plastic, etc. What are the inherent properties of the material? What are its limitations? What are the behavioral characteristics? These investigations will lead to a series of scaled prototypes using various materials and methods.
The challenge of the PERFORMA research is to engage a methodology that allows the designer to create dynamic formal systems using simple materials and methods without the need to rely on ‘rapid prototyping’ techniques. Mass customized materials take a tremendous amount of time and energy to produce and usually are simply a product of software techniques or machining limits. By ‘removing’ reliances on software and output machines, the students are forced to engage a whole host of limits that otherwise would be ignored by simply ‘outputting’. It is then the responsibility of the designer not only to invent the individual unit and subsequent system but also find the means of fabrication that make it possible.
WORKSHOP PARTICIPANS
Bujar Abazaj, René Andersson, Oskar Edström, Jonas Ersson, Per Hallström, Sara Hellgren, Sofia Kanerud, Svante Karlsson, Mattias Lindskog, Fredrik Petersson, Hillevi Olsson, Andreea Marcu, Marta Nestorow, Tomas Ramstrand, Erik Revellé, Lucy Roth, Lina Salomonsson, Matilda Schuman.
*Special thanks to Gareth Lewis, Peter Lövendahl and TetraPAK
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site? | https://archinect.com/news/article/5291296/uk-cod-assistant-professor-taught-performa-workshop-at-lund-university-in-sweden |
This paper develops a smart system based on the concept of Industry 4.0 to prevent customer dissatisfaction. The value of this prevention system is that it enables hoteliers to interact with customers by understanding what they like/dislike from their behaviors via data analysis. Therefore, this system helps hoteliers to enhance service quality by predicting service issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The system, named the dissatisfaction identification system (DIS), is developed. A total of 127 service items were examined by a hotel manager who preset the threshold values for the measurement of service quality. A big data set for the questionnaire survey is statistically generated by a pseudorandom number generator and 10,000 mock data sets are taken as input for comparison.
Findings
The results indicated that 36 out of 127 service items are identified as service issues for the participating hotel. Examples include customer code number 01d, “Space of parking lot is adequate” in the safety management category, and number 05a, “A hotel's service time meets my needs” in the front office service category. The items identified require improvement action plans for preventing customer dissatisfaction.
Originality/value
This paper offers a new perspective paper emphasizing customer dissatisfaction using a big data-driven technology system. The DIS, prevention system, is developed to aid hotels by enhancing their relationships with customers using a data-driven approach.
Keywords
Citation
Kuo, C.-M., Chen, W.-Y., Tseng, C.-Y. and Kao, C.T. (2021), "Developing a smart system with Industry 4.0 for customer dissatisfaction", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 121 No. 6, pp. 1353-1374. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-12-2019-0656
Publisher: | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IMDS-12-2019-0656/full/html |
I’m pleased to announce that I’m making the full text of ‘Switching to Scrum’ available as a downloadable PDF. Feel free to download it and share with your friends and associates. I’m always open to feedback on the content and welcome anyone to write me at:
I’ve been contemplating how to apply Kanban techniques at my work and found the concepts of Scrumban to be quite interesting. In Scrumban, the best of both techniques are combined into a methodology that provides visibility, flexibility and removes the constraints of planning for and completing work within sprints.
The material on the Internet wasn’t always clear or comprehensive and typically focused only one aspect or another. What I was looking for was a guide on how to switch to Scrumban and so after researching and some experimentation, I created my own Implementing Scrumban whitepaper.
The whitepaper is available in PDF format. Feedback is welcome and I will incorporate any good ideas back into the whitepaper.
(The following is an edited excerpt from my upcoming book: “The Product Owner Role Explained”.)
When an initiative starts, there’s always interest in knowing when it will be completed. Certainly the Management team would want to know and the Product Owner himself may need estimates for Roadmap planning or coordinating with other parts of the organization. Under the Scrum methodology estimates for an entire initiative aren’t provided up front so how can the probable completion date be determined?
An easy, quick and low effort technique is to create an Initiative Burndown Chart which tracks the number of remaining backlog items from sprint to sprint. It provides a clear visual showing progress and the sprint in which all work is likely to be completed.
Creating the chart is best done using a spreadsheet although given its simplicity, it could also be done on a whiteboard or poster-board hanging in the Scrum Team’s regular meeting area. Start with a three column table with Sprint #, Sprint Start Date, and Remaining Backlog Item Count. Then create a bar chart that plots the number of remaining items for each sprint. A chart like the following can be created:
Updating the chart is a matter of counting the remaining backlog items after Sprint Planning. Why after this meeting? Because by the time that meeting is over, the Developers would have given feedback on the Product Backlog at a Story Time meeting and during Sprint Planning and any new items would be defined at least by title. The key with using this technique is to update it in a consistent way, either always right after Sprint Planning or at the end of that day.
Notice that the chart has a dotted straight line running from the highest bar and projected downwards until it reaches zero. This trendline represents the likely sprint in which all initiative work will be complete. In the above example, the Scrum Team had worked for six sprints and probably needs three more to be completely done. Assuming they finish all the work in Sprint 9, the predicted completion date would be by Sprint 10 or August 14.
Of course the Product Backlog isn’t static and so the number of backlog items can increase over time. When this occurs, as illustrated in the following, the trendline is redrawn from the new highest bar towards zero. This bump in backlog item count has changed the date when all work is likely to be completed and so the predicted completion date coincides with Sprint 11, or August 28th.
The predictive power of this chart isn’t perfect as it doesn’t take in account the size of the backlog items but since a Product Owner doesn’t want the Scrum Team to spend a couple of sprints only estimating backlog items, that may not even be fully defined yet, it’s a good alternative to guessing.
Besides the obvious benefits of predicting when an initiative will be completed, the chart can also be a great motivator. When a Scrum Team is starting a 40+ backlog item initiative, it may feel like an insurmountable mountain of work lies ahead and so showing progress from sprint to sprint will give them a sense of where they’re at in the whole effort and may even inspire them to get it done quicker.
the assembly of the Scrum Team, at the end of every sprint, where the Developers demonstrate completed work to the Product Owner for acceptance. Usage: Let’s not be late for the Sprint Review Meeting.
Based on the above definition for the Sprint Review meeting, one might imagine these are dull and lifeless events, full of techno-babble, acronyms, and the examination of code.
In reality they don’t have to be. After all, the backlog items represent “business value” so the demonstrations can focus on that. No matter the nature of the completed work, whether it’s a webpage, or application user interface or backend business logic, it can be demonstrated in a compelling way.
The key is to think about telling a story, which includes setting the context, describing the challenge and revealing the outcome. Considering that anyone in the organization could attend the Sprint Review Meeting, this is an opportunity for the Developers to impress the audience with their technical skills and showmanship.
Before the Sprint Review Meeting
Plan the Demonstration – Before the Sprint Review meeting, the Developers should decide who will demonstrate what and when. Also the team should identify and obtain any special hardware, tools, access or configuration necessary to facilitate showing their work.
During the Sprint Review Meeting
Identify the Backlog Item(s) to be Demonstrated – At the Sprint Review, start by identifying which backlog item is about to be demonstrated. The Product Owner is probably very familiar with each of them but by calling them out explicitly (e.g. ID#, title, or user story), it will help prepare him to evaluate the work. Sometimes it makes sense to demonstrate more than one backlog item at the same time. In these cases, it should be made clear that multiple items will be covered.
Summarize the Backlog Item – Briefly describe what the backlog item was asking for so any attendees who aren’t regularly tracking sprint work can understand what they’re about to see. The description may not be necessary for the Product Owner but he will appreciate knowing that the Developers understood what he was looking for.
Set the Stage – The best way to illustrate completed work is to show what existed before. For example, if a user interface was modified, show the old version first; if the backlog item calls for new files to be created, show that they didn’t exist before. Focus on this aspect just long enough to establish the starting point and give the audience a sense of what will be changing.
Describe the Implementation – Briefly describe how the backlog item was implemented as a lead-in to showing the results. Hold back on the details unless specifically asked or the Sprint Review meeting will lose focus and may not finish within the time allotted.
Show the End Result – Demonstrate what was created for the backlog item, pointing out those aspects that specifically meet the acceptance criteria. If the Developers cannot figure out how to best demonstrate the work, ask the Product Owner before the meeting as he may want to see something specific to be satisfied.
Solicit Questions – Open the floor up for questions but make sure the Product Owner has the opportunity to ask if he has any. Be mindful not to lose track of why everyone is there and table any unnecessary technical discussions until a later time.
Obtain a Definitive Answer – Lastly, if the Product Owner doesn’t explicitly state it, ask if he accepts the work. If the acceptance isn’t definitive or he outright rejects it, ask what he thought was missing so the team can figure out where the disconnect was.
“[2] Hello everyone, I’m going to demonstrate item #B-042, [3] which gives the website user the ability to have the username remembered for up to two weeks. [4] Here’s what the login page looked like beforehand, notice there’s no option for having the site remember the username. [5] To achieve this, we used cookies with a short script and worked with the graphics design guys to make it look nice. [6] Here’s what it looks like implemented and we can step through enabling and disabling the feature. [7] Well, that’s it; are there any questions? [8] Does the Product Owner accept the work?”
Based on the above example, all the guidelines don’t have to result in a long winded presentation for each backlog item. The key is to cover the essential elements that make for telling a good story.
Developers should remember that while the purpose of the Sprint Review meeting is to demonstrate completed work, it represents a great opportunity to impress others with their skills. The best Developers are those who can deliver solutions and interface well with the business side of the organization.
When a backlog item is first added to a product backlog, rarely will it be in its final form. At a minimum the user story (u/s) and acceptance criteria (a/c) will change as the Product Owner works on refining the business value each item describes.
Later, when the Scrum Team has an opportunity to preview each backlog item during a Story Time meeting, even more dramatic changes may be required. This is because the team will be thinking about how the item might be implemented and make suggestions according to their theoretical approach. They may recommend splitting the item into two because of size, or the discussion will result in new backlog items spawning from the original idea. Combining items may also be suggested where the team believes they can gain efficiencies.
The following sections explain the different types of metamorphoses, when they might occur and why.
Splitting the Backlog Item
Sometimes a backlog item represents a scope greater than what can be completed by a Scrum Team during a sprint. The obvious thing to do is to split it up into two or more items but therein lies the challenge, how can it be divided?
The first area to look at is the user story (u/s) to see if the business value it describes is defining functionality at too high a level. For example, a backlog item that describes a user’s ability to log into a website and include the functionality to recover their username/password might be split between logging-in and account-recovery functions. Yes, they are both essential to a complete website experience but arguably, having the ability to log in is more valuable and therefore could be separated and completed first.
The second area to look at is the acceptance criteria (a/c) to see if they represent more than one theme. Returning to the example of a function that enables a user to recover their username/password, the acceptance criteria could be separated into two groups, one for usernames and the other for passwords each within their own backlog item.
Spawning a New Backlog Item
When a backlog item has dependencies necessary to either begin or finish the work, new items may be spawned and placed at a higher priority to ensure they are completed first. This could include a research spike to give the Scrum Team time to learn about a technology, design work on a database, or prototyping to decide what the final strategy will be.
Newly spawned backlog items aren’t only for prerequisites, they can also reflect work necessary as a result of completing the original backlog item. For example, if a website was going to collect statistics on performance then someone will want a report or interface to access the data later.
Combining Backlog Items
As a Scrum Team looks ahead at upcoming backlog items they may see patterns in the requirements or how implementation might proceed. Combining backlog items could make sense in order to gain efficiencies in either the coding or testing necessary to complete the work.
For example, if a backlog item described enhancing the monthly sales report to include commissions paid out and a completely different item described adding a column for partner revenue sharing totals, the Developers may want to complete both enhancements within the same item because to “open the hood” on the reporting engine is time consuming and doing it once is preferred.
I was watching a television show recently about Air Traffic Controllers and how their job has evolved over time. It was interesting to note that their job has been basically the same since the beginning where they have to track many planes at once and service each one’s specific needs. In thinking about this, it struck me that the role of Product Owner is much the same.
Of course it is well known that the Product Owner is responsible for preparing the Product Backlog for Sprint Planning but there much more than that. A Product Owner represents business needs and is a conduit for requests from the smallest of defect fixes, to product enhancements, to completely new initiatives.
All these requests must flow through a process managed by the Product Owner which is where my analogy of an Air Traffic Controller comes in. The following illustration helps to explain the comparison. There are four “zones” a Product Owner must pay attention to, giving each a slice of his overall time and making sure not to leave any one unattended for very long. The successful completion of a request is dependent on the Product Owner managing all four zones so that each request can “land” and call the journey complete.
Zone 3 – In a Holding Pattern
All work for a Scrum Team begins by entering Zone 3 regardless of whether the Product Owner himself created it or it was a request from elsewhere in the organization. These requests will typically be unstructured and contain varying levels of details. They could be merely vague ideas mentioned in passing by a coworker in the hallway: “We should do something about that problem we had last week.” or be very specific requests: “I need a tool to decrypt files for diagnosing problems.”
When the Product Owner receives these requests there’s a minimum set of information that should be captured.
What is being requested.
Why it is wanted.
Who is requesting it.
The urgency level.
Who can be contacted for additional details.
This information will be used to triage requests and help determine its place in the Product Backlog. When the request is larger in scope or will be visible to the business, it should also be tracked on the Product Roadmap.
As these requests collect, the Product Owner will need to dedicate time to grooming them, refining what is wanted by spending time with the requester. When the Product Owner has enough of an understanding of what’s needed, he’ll be able to create a series of backlog items representing the original request.
Zone 2 – Forming Up for Approach
The backlog items in Zone 2 now represent the request but they will still need refinement. The Product Owner may need to create a project kickoff presentation, data lookup tables, final copy (text), mockups of user interfaces, et cetera. These additional elements will be necessary for the Scrum Team to fully understand what each backlog item asks for. Creating all this material will consume plenty of time and may require consultation with others in the organization since the Product Owner is unlikely to be an expert in all areas.
Additionally if any backlog items require coordination with outside resources, such as the ordering of hardware or negotiating to have a resource available, the Product Owner will need to line these up.
As backlog items become complete enough to be reviewed by the Scrum Team, the Product Owner will present them during a Story Time meeting. This process may be as simple as explaining each item or giving the team a presentation regarding the big picture and what they’ll be working on. Feedback from the team will help refine each item further.
Zone 1 – On Approach
Backlog items in Zone 1 now have all associated material ready and the Scrum Team has seen and provided feedback on each one. Also, any outside resources will have been coordinated with, and committed to, providing the support needed. At this point each item’s final position can be established within the Product Backlog.
Once backlog items are in this zone, they should not be bumped from their position for the following reasons:
The Scrum Team is familiar enough with each item and any delay will result in their memories fading, requiring another review at a later time.
The Product Owner’s memory of the details may also fade, requiring he re-familiarize himself with each backlog item to be ready for Sprint Planning.
External resources (personnel, equipment, processes) have been lined up and rescheduling may not be possible in the short term.
Events or processes such as Sales Training, or an advertising campaign dependent on delivery may not be easily postponed.
Any expectations management had about delivery dates will have to be reset, potentially creating disappointment.
However, just like with real airports, where emergency situations require airline traffic be put on hold for a plane in trouble, backlog items for urgent business needs will occasionally be wedged in at the top of the Product Backlog. In these cases the Product Owner and Scrum Team will just have to deal with the new work as best they can.
Ideally Zone 1 should have enough backlog items to supply a Scrum Team with two sprints worth of work. Having this surplus ready is good for when a team’s capacity has opened up and they are willing to take on additional items. The Product Owner will have to continually focus on refining backlog items in this zone to ensure enough work is available.
Zone 0 – Landing
In this zone, backlog items have been selected into a sprint and the team is actively working on them. It is important to allow the team to complete this work but if absolutely necessary, they can negotiate a change in sprint scope.
To support Zone 0 the Product Owner will have to be available during Daily Standup meetings and address any questions or needs that come up. There will always be questions once the Developers begin implementation and no amount of preparation ahead of a sprint will eliminate them.
Managing the Airspace
A Product Owner, just like an Air Traffic Controller, will have to monitor numerous requests and backlog items throughout the process. It can be overwhelming to pay attention to so many things each day leading to a risk of burnout. A workable strategy involves blocking off time by the hour to concentrate on one of the zones at a time. For example, allocating an hour a day to Zone 3, the Product Owner may concentrate on clearing requests out of their email, and converting them into rough backlog items describing each request at high level. The same can be done for the other zones, allocating time as needed to keep everything moving.
The method of concentrating on one zone at a time can either be in the order of requests flowing through the process or randomly, whatever makes the most sense. It is important however that attention be given to all three in order to have enough work ready for the Scrum Team for the next Sprint Planning meeting.
During a sprint planning meeting, the Developers select the number of backlog items they reasonably believe they can complete within the sprint. They do this knowing that while there are specialists on the team (e.g. Coders, Testers, DBAs, Graphics Artists, Copywriters, etc), it is up to the entire team to complete the selected sprint work. This means that there will be some blurring of traditional roles with each team member helping in ways outside of their traditional role.
Sometimes sprint capacity opens up for an individual team member even after they have helped out wherever they could. In this case, what are these individual team members to do?
Of course the first action is to inform the rest of the team at the Daily Standup meeting just in case someone could use their help. Assuming their spare capacity cannot be utilized, there are always background tasks that could be done depending on their traditional role. Using the Coder or Tester roles as an example, they might do some of the following:
Learn the typical duties of other team members so they can help more in future sprints.
Coordinate with the rest of the organization so code can be deployed.
Refactor code (so long as it doesn’t impact other team members and delivery of current sprint work).
Write unit tests to improve quality before formal testing.
Update documentation and organize project files.
Look for defects in previously delivered code.
Identify technical debt and make recommendations to the Product Owner for new backlog items.
Investigate new toolsets that would benefit the team.
Create automated test case suites.
Research upcoming backlog items requirements and solutions.
Any number of activities could be done as long as the work will be beneficial for the Scrum Team now or in future sprints.
| |
Shoppers trickling back to Geylang malls, but sales remain low
Joo Chiat Complex, which is usually crowded during the weekends, has been unusually quiet during the coronavirus pandemic. Shopkeepers said that unless the situation changes, it would be difficult to maintain their businesses. PHOTO: NUR HUMAIRA SAJAT / BERITA HARIAN
Shoppers have returned since phase two of Singapore's reopening, but not in sufficient numbers, with sales a far cry from that of pre-Covid-19 days.
Business owners at Joo Chiat Complex and Tanjong Katong Complex told Malay-language daily Berita Harian on Sunday that regulations constraining functions such as weddings and festivals were among the reasons for the low footfall in the area.
Mr Huang Jianhui, 36, managing partner of Bewa Fashion, said sales for its ready-to-wear clothing and sewing services have fallen by about 50 per cent compared with the same month last year.
Like a number of businesses at the two centres, Bewa Fashion has taken to introducing new lines to boost sales.
At the beginning of phase two, it started selling reusable masks with lace and satin lining.
The masks received positive response from walk-in customers and online.
"Mask sales help support weak sales of our clothing. We are investing more time and energy in designing new masks in the short term," Mr Huang said.
He added that the current measures, which restrict people coming together for functions such as weddings, meant that there was less demand for custom clothing and tailoring.
Another store, Bimla, has turned to promotions to attract customers.
Joo Chiat Complex, which is usually crowded during the weekends, has been unusually quiet during the pandemic. At Tanjong Katong Complex, the number of customers visiting the mall has reportedly declined by about 60 per cent.
Shopkeepers interviewed by Berita Harian said that unless the situation changes, it would be difficult to maintain their businesses.
Mr Awie Shohod, 60, who runs Adam's Barbershop at Tanjong Katong Complex, said: "There are some businesses here that cannot survive and eventually have to close. It will be difficult for us to get customers all day."
New store owners have suffered the brunt of the pandemic.
Ms Nur Haryani Jamaluddin, 32, said the Government enforced the circuit breaker just before she opened a boutique on the second floor of Tanjong Katong Complex. Like other businesses, she has tried to spur sales by going online.
One shopkeeper, who did not want to be identified, told The Straits Times that the easing of restrictions at Geylang Serai Market has brought back some customers to the nearby shopping complexes.
Weekday entry restrictions to the market were eased last Thursday after the authorities noted a reduction in weekday queues.
It was one of four popular wet markets where entry was restricted based on the last digit of a shopper's NRIC number.
The market, which witnessed long queues ahead of Hari Raya Aidilfitri in May, was on the Ministry of Health's list of places visited by Covid-19 patients in early June.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 18, 2020, with the headline 'Shoppers trickling back to Geylang malls, but sales remain low'. Print Edition | Subscribe
The Straits Times
We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. But a log-in is still required for our PDFs. | |
Produced to accompany a major exhibition at the British Museum, on view 24 September 2009 - 24 January 2010, this catalogue will explore the dramatic events surrounding the Spanish assault on the Aztec Empire, focusing on the Emperor Moctezuma II who ruled from AD 1502 from his capital Tenochtitlan (the site of modern-day Mexico City). Key works of art will be shown together for the first time, including iconic objects such as the British Museums turquoise snake and masks, and intriguing but less well-known material such as sculptures, codices, intricate featherwork, gold and treasures from Mexico and other major international museums. The book will open with an examination of the origin of Mexico and the role of the king as a military, political and religious leader. At the heart of the story unfolding around the arrival of the Spanish stands the enigmatic and semi-mythical figure of Moctezuma himself. Attention will be drawn to the fascinating but often very different accounts of key events given by Mexican and Spanish sources. Moctezuma's own contribution to his eventual downfall and death at the hands of his own people will be examined afresh, drawing upon the latest international research and the ongoing archaeological discoveries in Mexico City. The book will finally reassess the legacy of these momentous events, including the role they played in shaping modern Mexican identity. With chapters by international authorities and stunning photography, this book will be an outstanding contribution to the understanding of Mexico and its last Aztec ruler. | https://www.ancient.eu/books/0714125865/ |
Technological approaches to minimize industrial trans fatty acids in foods.
Trans fatty acids (TFAs) mainly arise from 2 major sources: natural ruminal hydrogenation and industrial partial catalytic hydrogenation. Increasing evidence suggests that most TFAs and their isomers cause harmful health effects (that is, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases). Nevertheless, in spite of the existence of an international policy consensus regarding the need for public health action, several countries (for example, France) do not adopt sufficient voluntary approaches (for example, governmental regulations and systematic consumer rejections) nor sufficient industrial strategies (for example, development of healthier manufacturing practices and innovative processes such as fat interesterifications) to eliminate deleterious TFAs from processed foods while ensuring the overall quality of the final product (for example, nutritional value and stability). In this manuscript, we first review the physical-chemical properties of TFAs, their occurrence in processed foods, their main effects on health, and the routine analytical methods to characterize TFAs, before emphasizing on the major industrial methods (that is, fat food reformulation, fat interesterification, genetically modified FAs composition) that can be used worldwide to reduce TFAs in foods.
| |
1.1 These General Terms & Conditions (hereinafter referred to as “T&Cs”) of Jaxmotech GmbH (hereinafter referred to as the “Seller”) shall apply to all contracts entered into by a consumer or business entity (hereinafter referred to as the “Customer”) with the Seller regarding the goods and/or services displayed by the Seller on its online shop. The Seller hereby objects to incorporation of the Customer’s own terms and conditions, except where otherwise agreed.
1.2 A consumer within the meaning of these T&Cs is any natural person who, when entering into any legal transaction, does not do so primarily in the exercise of his or her trade, business or profession. A business entity within the meaning of these T&Cs is any natural or legal person or partnership with legal personality who or which, when entering into a legal transaction, does so in the exercise its trade, business or profession.
2.1 The product descriptions in the Seller’s online shop do not constitute a binding offer on behalf of the Seller; they are merely an invitation to treat for the Customer to make a binding offer.
2.2 The Customer shall submit the offer using the online order form on the Seller’s website. In doing so the Customer shall place the selected goods and/or services into the virtual basket and proceed with the electronic ordering process; by clicking the button to conclude the order, a legally binding offer is submitted to conclude a contract with respect to the goods and/or services placed in the basket. The Customer may also submit an offer to the Seller by telephone, fax, email, or letter.
by requesting payment from the Customer after submission of the Customer’s order.
Should more than one of the above alternatives occur, the contract shall be deemed concluded upon the first occurrence of one of the above alternatives. Should the Seller fail to accept the Customer’s offer within the above-stated time limit, this shall be deemed a rejection of the offer and as a result the Customer shall no longer be bound by his declaration.
2.4 Should the Customer choose to pay by PayPal during the online order process by clicking on the button to conclude the order process, the Customer simultaneously issues payment instructions to its payment provider. In such case, and in derogation from section 2.3, the Seller is deemed to accept the Customer’s offer at such time as the Customer initiates the payment process by clicking the button to conclude his order.
2.5 The time limit for accepting the offer shall commence on the day after the Customer’s submission of the offer and end upon expiry of the fifth day following submission of the offer.
2.6 When an offer is made via the Seller’s online ordering form, the Seller shall store the text of the contract and send it to the Customer by email, fax or letter (together with these T&Cs) following dispatch of the Customer’s order. The text of the contract shall also be archived on the Seller’s website and may be accessed by the Customer free of charge by logging in to his password protected account by means of the relevant log-in information, provided the Customer had a customer account on the Seller’s website prior to placing the order.
2.7 The Customer may correct his input in the Seller’s online form at any time prior to submitting a binding order by using the standard keyboard and mouse functions. In addition, before a binding order is submitted, the Seller’s website shall display all input one final time in a confirmation window, where the Customer can also correct it by using the standard keyboard and mouse functions.
2.8 Order processing and communications shall, as a rule, be handled via email and automated order processing procedures. The Customer shall ensure that the email address he gives to process the order is correct, such that the Customer is able to receive emails sent by the Seller to this address. In particular when using spam filters, the Customer shall ensure that all emails from the Seller or third parties engaged in connection with the processing of the order are capable of being delivered.
Consumers shall have the right to cancel the contract in accordance with the following, where a consumer is a natural person who, when entering into a legal transaction, acts primarily in a fashion not in exercise of its trade, business or profession.
You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without the need to give any reason.
This time limit is 14 days from the day on which you, or a third party designated by you who is not the carrier, took possession of the last of the goods.
To exercise your right to cancel this contract you must send us (Jaxmotech GmbH, Ostring 60, 66740 Saarlouis, tel: +49 (0)6831 5059800, fax: +49 (0)6831 5059801, email: [email protected]) an unambiguous declaration (e.g. by letter sent by post, fax or email) regarding your intent to cancel this contract. You may use the sample cancellation form which is attached here for this this purpose, but are not required to do so.
To exercise your right to cancel this contract, it is sufficient for you to send your declaration that you are exercising your right to cancel this contract prior to the expiry of the cancellation period.
If you cancel this contract we shall immediately refund all payments we have received from you, including delivery costs (but excluding any additional costs resulting from your choice of any delivery method other than the cheapest standard delivery offered by us), within fourteen days at the latest from the date on which we received your letter stating your intent to cancel the contract. Our refund to you will be made by the same payment method used in the original transaction unless expressly agreed otherwise; you will not under any circumstances be charged a fee for the refund. We may decline to process the refund until we have received the goods back or until you have provided evidence that you have sent the goods back, whichever is earlier.
You must ship or deliver the goods to us immediately, no later than fourteen days from the day you informed us you wished to cancel the contract. This time limit is deemed to have been complied with if you ship the goods prior the expiry of the fourteen day period.
You shall be responsible for the direct costs of returning the goods.
You must only pay for any diminished value of the goods if such reduction in value is the result of your handling of the goods, where such handling was not necessary to inspect the condition, characteristics and function of the goods.
Your right to cancel the contract shall expire prematurely for contracts for delivery of sealed goods which are not suitable to be returned for public health or hygiene reasons, where such goods have been unsealed after delivery.
Your right to cancel the contract shall expire prematurely for contracts for delivery of sealed audio or video recordings or computer software, where such goods have been unsealed after delivery.
Please avoid damaging and contaminating the goods. Please return the goods to us in their original packaging, with all accessories and all packaging components. Please use protective packaging if required. If you no longer have the original packaging, please sure the goods are suitably packaged to provide adequate protection against damage in transit.
If possible, please do not return the goods to us freight or postage unpaid.
Please note that the above 1 and 2 are not requirements for effectively exercising your right to cancel the contract.
4.1 Unless stated otherwise in the Seller’s offer, the prices stated shall be deemed final prices inclusive of statutory VAT. Additional delivery and shipping costs, if applicable, shall be stated separately in the product description.
4.2 The various payment methods referenced in the Seller’s online shop are available to the Customer.
4.3 Where advance payment is agreed, payment is due immediately at the time the contract is formed.
5.1 Goods shall be shipped to the delivery address indicated by the Customer unless otherwise agreed. The delivery address given at the time the order is processed shall be deemed to govern, with the exception of orders on which payment is made by PayPal, where the delivery address given by the Customer when paying by PayPal shall govern.
5.2 Should the transport company return the shipped goods to the Seller because it was unable to deliver them to the Customer, the Customer shall bear the cost of the unsuccessful delivery attempt. This shall not apply if the Customer is not responsible for the circumstances which led to the transport company’s inability to deliver the goods, or if the Customer was temporarily prevented from accepting the service provided, except where the Seller had given the Customer sufficient advance notice of the service.
5.3 In principle, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of the goods purchased shall pass to the Customer upon handover of the goods to the Customer or a person entitled to receive the goods. If the Customer is a business entity, the risk of accidental loss and accidental deterioration of goods shipped for purchase shall pass to the Customer at such time as the goods are handed over to a suitable transport employee at the Seller’s business premises.
5.4 The Seller shall reserve the right to cancel the contract in the event that it fails to receive timely or proper deliveries from its suppliers. This shall only apply where the Seller bears no responsibility for the failure to deliver the goods, and where the Seller has exercised the requisite diligence in concluding an actual cover transaction with the supplier. The Seller shall use its reasonable best efforts to obtain the goods. In the event that the goods are not available or only a portion thereof is available, the Seller shall notify the Customer thereof at once and refund the consideration without delay.
5.5 If the goods are to be collected by the Customer, the Seller shall initially notify the Customer by email that the goods ordered by the Customer are ready for collection. Upon receipt of this email the Customer shall arrange with the Seller to collect the goods from the Seller’s premises. In such case, no shipping costs will be charged.
6.1 In transactions with consumers, the Seller shall retain title to the goods delivered until the purchase price under the contract has been paid in full.
6.2 In transactions with business entities, the Seller shall retain title to the delivered goods until all receivables from the ongoing business relationship have been settled in full.
6.3 If the Customer trades as a business entity, the Customer shall be entitled to sell the retention of title goods onward in the normal course of its business operations. The Customer hereby assigns to the Seller in advance all third party receivables in the amount of the invoice (including VAT) arising therefrom. This assignment shall apply regardless of whether the goods subject to retention of title are sold onward with or without processing. The Customer shall remain entitled to collect the receivables even after their assignment. The Seller’s right to collect the receivables itself shall remain unaffected by the foregoing. The Seller shall, however, not collect the receivables, provided that the Customer complies with its payment obligations vis-à-vis the Seller, does not default on payment and no application has been made to commence insolvency proceedings in respect of the Customer.
the limitation period shall not restart upon delivery of a replacement in the event of a defect.
shall be one year from delivery of the goods to the Customer for used goods, with the restrictions imposed by section 7.3 below.
7.3 The above restrictions upon liability and limitation periods in sections 7.1 and 7.2, with regard to business entities and consumers, shall not apply to claims for damages and the reimbursement of expenses which the purchaser may assert in accordance with the statutory provisions regarding defects based on section 8 below.
7.4 In transactions with business entities, the statutory limitation period for the right of recourse in accordance with section 478 German Civil Code (BGB) shall remain unaffected. The same shall apply with regard to business entities and consumers in the event of a wilful breach of an obligation and the fraudulent concealment of a defect.
7.5 If the Customer is acting as a registered trader (Kaufmann) within the meaning of section 1 German Commercial Code (HGB), the Customer shall be subject to the investigation and notice obligations under section 377 HGB. Where the Customer fails to comply with such notice obligations, the goods shall be deemed accepted.
7.6 If the Customer is acting as a consumer, the Customer is requested to report delivered goods with obvious defects to the carrier, and immediately inform the Seller thereof. Where the Customer fails to do so, this shall have no effect whatsoever on the Customer’s statutory or contractual claims for defects.
7.7 If subsequent performance is effected by delivery of replacement goods, the Customer shall first return the delivered goods to the Seller at the Seller’s expense within 30 days. Defective goods shall be returned in accordance with the statutory provisions.
on the grounds of strict liability, such as under the German Product Liability Act (Produkthaftungsgesetz), for example.
8.2 Should the Seller negligently breach a fundamental contractual obligation, the Seller’s liability shall be restricted to liability for foreseeable damages typical for the contract, provided the Seller does not bear unlimited liability under section 8.1 above. Fundamental contractual obligations are those obligations which the substance of the parties’ contract imposes on the Seller, which are required to fulfil the purpose of the contract, the performance of which actually enables the proper implementation of the contract and upon the adherence with which the Customer is entitled to rely.
8.3 The Seller hereby disclaims liability in all further and other respects.
8.4 The above provisions regarding liability shall also apply with regard to the liability of the Seller for its vicarious agents and statutory representatives.
9.1 The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply to all legal relations between the parties, but excluding the UN Convention on the Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. This choice of law shall only apply to consumers to the extent that it does not have the effect of depriving the consumer of the protection of the mandatory rules of the law of the country in which the consumer has its habitual residence.
9.2 If the Customer is a registered trader, a legal person under public law, or a public law special fund with its registered office in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes arising from this contract shall be vested in the courts at the place of the Seller’s business premises. If the Customer’s domicile or registered office is located outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the courts at the place of the Seller’s business premises shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes arising from this contract where the contract or claim arising from the contract have arisen as a result of the Customer’s exercise of its trade, business or profession. The Seller is, however, entitled to file suit with the court at the place of the Customer’s registered office in the above-referenced cases. | https://www.fashion-headsets.com/legal/ |
How do you add references to a Word document?
Add citations to your document Click at the end of the sentence or phrase that you want to cite, and then on the References tab, in the Citations & Bibliography group, click Insert Citations. From the list of citations under Insert Citation, select the citation you want to use.
How do you create a works cited page in Word?
To add a citation, select the desired location for the citation in your document, click the Insert Citation command on the References tab, and select Add New Source. A dialog box will appear. Enter the requested information for the source—like the author name, title, and publication details—then click OK.
Does in-text referencing count in word count?
Are in-text citations included in my word count? Yes, they are counted in your word count. However, you reference list and bibliography are not counted in your word count.
How do you align references?
Format each reference with a hanging indent, which means that the first line of each reference entry is aligned flush with the left margin and each subsequent line has a hanging indent of 1.27 cm or 0.5 in (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 37).
How do you exclude references from word count?
To exclude reference lists from the word count, just add a footnote to the title of your reference list, drag your entire reference list into the footnote and push cmd+A. It won’t select the text in the footnotes and your word count will just be your essay.
How do you insert a works cited page in Word for Mac?
Insert a works cited list or bibliography
- In your document, click where you want the works cited list or bibliography to appear (usually at the very end of the document, following a page break).
- On the References tab, click the arrow next to Bibliography, and then click Bibliography or Works Cited.
Is it okay to say references available upon request?
No, you shouldn’t put “references available upon request” on your resume. Career experts universally agree that the phrase is superfluous. Because hiring managers know that if they need references, they can ask and expect to receive them.
How does a works cited page work?
The Works Cited page is the list of sources used in the research paper. It should be its own page at the end of the paper. Center the title, “Works Cited” (without quotation marks), at the top of the page. If only one source was consulted, title the page “Work Cited”.
How do you do references?
Book: print
- Author/Editor (if it is an editor always put (ed.)
- Title (this should be in italics)
- Series title and number (if part of a series)
- Edition (if not the first edition)
- Place of publication (if there is more than one place listed, use the first named)
- Publisher.
- Year of publication. | https://thisisbeep.com/how-do-you-add-references-to-a-word-document/ |
Schuitemaker, N.E.
MetadataShow full item record
Summary
Court cases on melody infringement are decided based on vague unspecified terms like the ‘substantial similarities’ between melodies. It is then up to experts to unbiasedly explain these concepts to an untrained judge, which has often lead to controversial verdicts. This paper presents an attempt at objectifying vague terms like ‘substantial similarity’ in cases of melodic plagiarism by testing whether existing melodic similarity algorithms can help determine plagiarism. Perceived similarity by ordinary humans (intrinsic test) and expert analyses in court (extrinsic test) are used to gather requirements that an algorithm needs to meet in order to accurately predict plagiarism. Some well-known similarity algorithms and pre-processing algorithms are presented and analyzed on whether they meet the requirements. The Edit Distance algorithm does well on these requirements and is then used to compare a song to both remixes of that song and non-remixes, finding an optimal boundary between the two that we can label as a plagiarism boundary. Lastly, we discuss the performance of the algorithm and examine the potential of this approach. | https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/36855 |
You know what 21st Century Syndrome is? It’s when you’re so used to the world we live in where instant results are an expectation that the mere utterance of the word “patience” is like being punched in the face by a sumo wrestler wearing a cowboy hat.
What precipitated this article included me sitting on my duff with a guitar in my lap. Reruns of House M.D. illuminated the otherwise light-absent walls as I contemplated how bored I’d grown with my practice regime. Truth be known I don’t particularly enjoy practicing. I’ve grown capable of the things that interest me, but as a result I’ve suffered in other areas. You know what happens after that? Boredom. And if there’s anything worse than practice it’s boredom.
So I’ve concluded I need to freshen things up and practice new things, but because of my 21st Century Syndrome I’m not entirely willing to sit down and just study new scales or chords. Instead I want to develop as many different aspects at the same time. And that brings us to…
Multi-Task Practice
When I sat down and figured out how I was going to convince myself I wanted to practice I considered everything that I needed to improve on and everything I wanted to add to to my repertoire. Soon after I began piecing together exercises that allowed me to practice everything I wanted to improve in one shot.
Thus an article was born and now I’m sharing with you how I’ve built a practice routine that can hold my attention span.
The first thing I wanted to improve was my speed and accuracy. I can play at some higher tempos, but I’m sloppy. It’s well known that if you want to play cleanly at high tempos you have to master slower tempos. So, I’ve made part 1 to do as much as I can within the span of 80 bpm exclusively. It’s a good base speed to start anything with. If I wanted to work on getting faster I’d just start cramming more notes between each beat instead. The plus side to that is speed is relative. Playing 10 notes per beat at 80 bpm will translate to playing 1/16 notes at 200 bpm.
Another benefit to this is you’ll always have a much easier time noticing when you’re on the beat and when you’re off. Being able to notice when you’re screwing up clearly and isolating the problem alone is integral to improving.
In a quick recap I’ve laid the groundwork to improve my speed and accuracy by getting my metronome out and picking a manageable tempo to start with.
Music Theory Stuff
This part is a bit up to whomever is reading this to decide what is right for them. Personally I wanted to brush up a bit on some of my chords and arpeggios, so I’ve isolated those, but it’s not difficult to replace those with scale patterns, or melodies you’ve written, or passages from a song you’re trying to learn.
In my case it was chords and arpeggios and you can see in the Fig. 1 (above) what I was doing. I picked four string arpeggios from A major, but truth be known the specific key is completely peripheral to the point here. While pattern memorization is a part of this, reliance on any one particular position can become a bit of a crutch.
It’s like how anything in the key of E is typically a guitarist’s go-to key. We want to abolish that automatic habit. To do that, every day I’ve chosen a different key to start in. That way the intervals and shapes feel natural regardless of what position I begin in. And therein lies an invaluable skill for anything music related. Being able to readily play in any key (per the mentoring of my old teacher) will make you even more invaluable than the next guitarist. That goes for chord progressions, melodies, solos, and anything else you can throw at the fretboard. Patterns are handy, but they can be restricting in their own way.
In summary I’ve decided what my fretting hand will be doing. I’ve chosen arpeggio patterns that can be moved easily around the fretboard. This focuses the exercise and prevents from resorting to habits or aimless noodling around the neck.
Technique Stuff
Ok. At this point I’d come to the conclusion the tempo I was settling on and what I was to play. Next is to decide how to play the piece. The technical side.
As you can see from the pictures I’d chosen sweep picking as an integral part of the exercise. I’m a sweep junkie, so I enthusiastically chose that as my starting point. After tinkering with the sweeps in a few different keys I’d started including some modest taps at the end of each arpeggio, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As techniques are gradually introduced you can morph the exercise into whatever you want. Sweeps, taps, string skipping, alternate picking, finger picking. Whatever you like.
Then on top of that you can work some ear training in there too. Try singing along with everything you play while practicing. Believe you me, my singing voice is about as alluring as the sounds picked up by a microphone crammed down my pants while I sleep. Singing is not a skill I attempt to exercise too often (no serenading for me), but the fact remains that singing is arguably the greatest asset to training your ears. All you have to do is match the pitch and before you know it you’ll be recognizing intervals and chords in songs on the radio.
Here I’ve chosen how I’m going to play the exercise. I’ve decided what kinds of techniques I’m going to focus on and how I’m going to impliment them into the exercise.
Taking it to the Next Level
At face value this doesn’t seem like much, but the real magic happens when you combine different patterns for your fretting hand and different techniques for your right. Take a look at Fig. 3. What began as a basic arpeggio exercise has now merged tapping and string skipping into one big exercise. And while focusing exclusively on one technique at one time has its benefits, practicing being able to switch from one style of picking to another, then to start tapping or switching from sextuplets to 1/8 notes has immeasurable benefits on its own.
To put it in perspective, in one shot this exercises:
- Speed
- Accuracy
- String Skipping
- Sweeping
- Alternate Picking
- Tapping
- Arpeggios
In Closing
When it comes to practicing there is a bit of an art to making it interesting, and it can be easy to overlook. After all we’re not practicing live for people, so the potential fun gets kinda pulled out from under our feet. The point of practice is to challenge ourselves, but it can be a bit of a balancing act to make it challenging, but also to not make things overwhelming. Just remember how simple the exercise is depicted in the first picture. That’s where I started with this exercise. The following pictures are just how it’s evolved. Remember. You don’t start at 200 bpm on day one for a reason.
The rest is up to you to decide how this concept is applied in your own routine.
Now go do your stretches and happy practicing to you all. | https://www.guitar-muse.com/nail-multiple-guitar-skills-at-once-with-this-simple-exercise-6892 |
Sign up for email alert when new content gets added: Sign up
Contemporary neuroscience and psychiatry are currently experiencing a rapid evolution. The foundations of these relatively new sciences are still largely theoretical and speculative. There are many competing hypotheses regarding the etiology and pathogenesis of mental illness. Unlike most somatic pathology, there is not a single laboratory test or objective disease marker for any psychiatric disorders. One of the dominant etiological paradigms in psychiatry involves the functional levels of neurotransmitters. Even this assumption is mootable, untestable, and widely disputed.
Several psychiatric disorders - Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, Traumatic Brian Injury, Autism, Parkinson’s disease, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are associated with a dysregulation of immune responses and measurably increased inflammatory markers.
There is an empirical correlation of an over-activated immune system with the development of psychiatric symptomatology. By experimentally inducing systemic inflammation, cognition and behavior are adversely affected. By experimentally suppressing inflammation, sensorium and mood can be dramatically improved.
Anti-inflammatory agents such as NSAIDS (COX-2 inhibitors), low-dose Aspirin (COX-1 inhibitors), and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (Omega-3 Fatty Acids) have demonstrated effectiveness – sometimes surpassing first-line psychotropic medications – in reducing psychiatric symptomatology.
It has also been demonstrated that some antidepressant and antipsychotic medications exert measurable immune modulation and anti-inflammatory effects. This may in part explain some of their therapeutic actions further challenging the theoretical foundation of the neurotransmitter hypothesis.
The notion of neuroinflammation is opening the door to a groundbreaking scientific endeavor. There is even a debate among these trailblazing scientists about what to call this promising and emerging field; Immunopsychiatry or Psychoneuroimmunology.
A conspicuous question is then raised as to whether inflammation causes mental impairment or does psychiatric pathology induce inflammation? Is inflammation the chicken or the egg? This is an exciting new frontier in psychiatry. It will offer promising novel targets for treatment and new avenues for therapeutic innovation. | https://www.pulsus.com/abstract/the-inflammation-hypothesis-and-mental-illness-5232.html |
Pollen analysis - Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil (F-26), 28 avenue de la Forge, calcareous tuff
A single palynological sample from a layer of calcareous tuff. Sterile.
Pollen analysis - Siracusa (Sicile, Italie), Aqueduc du Galermi
A single palynological sample from carbonates in a Roman aqueduct. Poor but exploitable.
Pollen analysis - Saint Benoît (F-86), Pièces de la Chaume, carbonates from a Gallo-Roman aqueduct
Two palynological samples taken from a carbonate inking in the Gallo-Roman aqueduct of Poitiers. Poor.
CECURE-Contamination of the Environment and Circulation in Urban and Rural areas of Echinococcus multilocularis
A copro-sample collection was created for the CECURE project. The aim of this study was to assess the relative role of carnivore hosts (mainly fox, dog, cat) in the speading and circulation of the parasite Echinococcus multilocularis in the urban and rural environnement in order to assess the ...
DNA Library - CNR Echinococcoses
DNA Library is a database associated to a web interface, created to improve the storage and the life of a biological sample collection, closely related to the research activities of the National Reference Center for Echinococcosis (CNR Echinococcoses, University Hospital of Besançon, France). A ...
Echinococcus multilocularis in red fox in Franche-Comte, France
Provides data on Echinococcus multilocularis adult worms in red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Franche-Comté administrative region, eastern France. Foxes (n=615) were night shot from october to april, from winter 1996-1997 to winter 1999-2000. Parasite worm burden was quantified using sedimentation and ... | https://dataosu.obs-besancon.fr/search.php?s=%28discipline%3Amicrobiology+%7C+discipline%3Aarchaeology+%7C+discipline%3Aoceanography+%7C+discipline%3Aparasitology%29+method%3A%22Experimental+data%22 |
Space exploration is sovoluminous and painstaking work that any possible help would not hurt humanity. Robots are able to remove a huge part of the load from the astronauts, to perform routine or dangerous work.
One of the first robots to visit Russian orbitSkybot F-850 has a simpler name - Fedor. Late in the evening on August 22, Fedor departed for the ISS in the Soyuz MS-14 cargo unmanned spacecraft. The Russian Space Agency said that this is the first time in history when a humanoid robot goes into space as a crew member.
Fedor is able to talk and collaborate withteam members, and will pass a period of testing for the ability to use when performing complex and dangerous tasks. Fedor’s partner on the ISS will be Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. A man and a robot will complete several tasks in outer space. For fans of Fedor on Twitter, an account is opened where the latest news is published on behalf of the robot.
On Saturday, August 24, the MS-14 Soyuz docked with the ISS, and Fedor will begin to carry out the first space mission specifically designed for robots. | https://vpchothuegoldenking.com/robot-fedor-went-into-space/ |
Energy Efficiency Technology WorkshopsWednesday 13th September 2017
The ACEEE (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy) is holding some interesting workshops next week on technology that help to consume energy efficiently - in the home and particularly businesses.
The workshops are US centric, but the information and the technology will help improve energy saving anywhere it can be accessed.
To explain what the workshops will cover Wendy Koch, ACEEE’a senior Director of Marketing & Communications, states in her blog:
“We’re exploring how smart devices, sensors, real-time data, and data analytics can help save energy—something ACEEE has dubbed “intelligent efficiency.” These tools can put fewer demands on US energy production and make better use of the nation’s power grid, power plants, utilities, roads, buildings, and other infrastructure.
“Consider, for example, smart meters, learning thermostats such as Nest, or connected appliances such as Wi-Fi-enabled refrigerators. New software enables smoother integration of these devices so they can automatically adjust to changes in temperature, power prices, or energy demand.”
There are three workshops, each focussing on a different aspect of energy efficiency technology. To quote Wendy’s blog:
The “Understanding People” workshop will focus on customer behaviour and engagement. It will look at how better data and new tracking tools give businesses a clearer view of the energy-efficient products or services their customers will use.
The “Yes, You Can!” workshop, business leaders will discuss the latest data analytic techniques for mining information from smart devices, as well as ways to target, track, and measure energy use.
The “Smart Logistics” workshop will explore how the latest energy-saving tech tools can reduce emissions, in a time of rising freight volumes and demand, for quicker delivery. An MIT expert will discuss how companies can reduce emissions through high-resolution, fuel-based routing.
The half-day workshops are being held in Santa Clara, so if you are nearby you will truly benefit - but for most of us, we are on the other side of the world! But it will be interesting to hear any feedback or any reports the ACEEE provide on the events.
Picture of the Santa Clara Conference Centre by Coolcaesar reproduced under CCL CC BY-SA 3.0.
Categories: General, Reviews, Technology
Wednesday 13th September 2017
Comments
To Comment you must be a member of The ESA, please login or register to join
There are currently no comments, be the first to comment above. | https://the-esa.org/blog/article/-/energy-efficiency-technology-workshops |
All KOI courses are accredited by TEQSA (Tertiary Education and Quality Standards Agency) and consistent with the AQF (Australian Qualifications Framework). TEQSA regulates qualifications in the Australian education system.
This means that KOI is recognised as providing its students with quality education for the courses on offer in line with Australia’s Higher Education Standards.
The subjects in shaded boxes must be studied in the order they are presented as they provide pre-requisite knowledge for other subjects. The remaining subjects (core and elective) have a recommended trimester, but may be studied in other available trimester slots to suit individual student preferences, provided pre-requisites have been completed.
Students may choose any elective subjects from the list following the Course Overview, provided the subject is offered in the trimester they wish to study it and they have met the relevant pre-requisites.
The Master of Arts (TESOL) provides graduates with a professional qualification for teaching English to speakers of other languages. The course has 11 subjects (the Research component is a double weighted subject) comprising of 7 core subjects and 4 electives, studied over 3 trimesters. King’s Own Institute works closely with other language teaching providers in Sydney to organise practicum placements, access current industry trends, resources and expertise in teaching methodology, and to identify resources and trends in the field. The course includes a supervised practicum.
The Master of Arts (TESOL) equips you with an internationally valued skill set, enabling you to communicate and exchange ideas with people of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and to learn more about other cultures and languages.
POSSIBLE CAREER PATHS
Graduates of the Master of Arts (TESOL) may find employment opportunities locally or overseas teaching English as a second or foreign language, or working in leadership positions in language teaching institutions. These include opportunities at TAFE or technical colleges, university language centres, private language schools and language teaching institutions for migrants.
Career choices for graduates with the Master of Arts (TESOL) include Academic advising, Government advising, Program directing, Academic Manager, Translating, Text book/journal writing or Business English instructing.
PATHWAY TO FURTHER STUDIES
Graduates of the Master of Arts (TESOL) are eligible to apply for admission into further postgraduate qualifications in Australia and overseas such as another Master degree or a PhD.
STUDENT PROFILEThe table in the pop-up window here gives an indication of the likely peer cohort for new students at KOI. It provides data on students that commenced Master of Arts (TESOL) study and passed the census date in the most relevant recent intake period for which data are available, including those admitted through all offer rounds, across all Australian campuses, and international students studying in Australia.
ATAR PROFILE
The table in the pop-up window here gives ATAR profile for those offered places wholly or partly on the basis of ATAR in Trimester 2, 2021
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
General admission criteria apply to the course.
|TSL700||Language Teaching Methodologies|
|TSL701||Linguistics for Language Teaching|
|TSL702||Learning an Additional Language|
|TSL704||TESOL Curriculum Development|
|TSL713||Research Methods of TESOL|
|TSL705||Language Testing and Assessment
|
(Pre-req: TSL701)
|TESOL Elective|
|TESOL Elective|
|TESOL / General Elective|
|TESOL Elective|
|*TSL714||Research Project
|
Double-weighted subject
Pre-req: TSL 713 & 8 completed subjects
Last trimester only
|TESOL / General Elective|
|TESOL Elective|
|TESOL Elective|
|TSL715||Research Project
|
Pre-req: TSL 713 & 8 completed subjects
Last trimester only
Important:
*TSL714 Research Project is a double-weighted subject – it replaces 2 normal subjects, and it is timetabled for a double lecture and a double tutorial.
Note:
Students must choose either Third Trimester (A) or Third Trimester (B).
Electives – may only be enrolled in the 2nd or 3rd trimester – pre-requisites shown in brackets.
TESOL Electives (Subject to availability)
TSL706 New Technologies and New Literacies in Language Teaching
TSL709 Literature and Language Teaching (Pre-req: TSL704)
TSL711 Intercultural Communication (Pre-req: TSL700)
TSL712 English for Academic and Specific Purposes (Pre-req: TSL704)
TSL716 Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching
TSL717 Computer-assisted Language Learning and Teaching in a TESOL Classroom
General Elective (any postgraduate subject offered may be chosen if prerequisites are satisfied – the following are recommended options): | https://koi.edu.au/courses/postgraduate-courses/master-of-arts-tesol/ |
© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and Patient Care Online. All rights reserved.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that pediatricians and others who care for pediatric patients proactively evaluate this population for obesity and provide “immediate, intensive obesity treatment to each patient,” as soon as the diagnosis is made.
The Academy’s first comprehensive obesity guideline in 15 years is also its first to outline evidence-based evaluation and treatment for children and adolescents with overweight or obesity, including both pharmacotherapy and bariatric or metabolic surgery for teens aged ≥12 and ≥13 years, respectively, deemed eligible.
“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” said Sandra Hassink, MD, an author of the guideline and vice chair of the Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity in an AAP statement. “The goal is to help patients make changes in lifestyle, behaviors or environment in a way that is sustainable and involves families in decision-making at every step of the way.”
“Watchful waiting” refers to previous AAP guidelines, released in 2007, that advised a wait-and-see approach to childhood overweight and obesity. Those 15 years have seen an accumulation of data on the devastating effects of obesity on children that may continue for a lifetime. The same period has also seen a rapidly expanding body of evidence on interventions that are both safe and effective in children and adolescents.
“The medical costs of obesity on children, families and our society as a whole are well-documented and require urgent action,” said Sarah Hampl, MD, professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and chair of the Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity, in the AAP statement. “This is a complex issue, but there are multiple ways we can take steps to intervene now and help children and teens build the foundation for a long, healthy life.”
Experts contributing to development of the guideline included a range of primary and tertiary pediatric care providers, primary healthcare providers, and experts in behavioral health, nutrition, public health, and medical epidemiology. The guideline describes the role of a primary care clinician--or medical home--in overseeing intensive and long-term care strategies, ongoing medical monitoring, and treatment of youth with obesity.
The guideline developers have focused on making their recommendation as broadly applicable as possible, recognizing the pernicious role of social determinants of health in both creating obesogenic environments and creating intrinsic barriers to overcome them. Included are discussions on topics ranging from target marketing of unhealthy food to the role structural racism has played in the evolution of the obesity epidemic.
“Research tells us that we need to take a close look at families -- where they live, their access to nutritious food, health care and opportunities for physical activity--as well as other factors that are associated with health, quality-of- life outcomes and risks. Our kids need the medical support, understanding and resources we can provide within a treatment plan that involves the whole family,” said Dr. Hampl, chair of the Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity
The evidence-based recommendations include motivational interviewing, intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment, pharmacotherapy, and metabolic and bariatric surgery. Pharmacotherapy and surgical intervention, the guideline says, may be considered for patients deemed eligible aged ≥12 years and ≥13 years, respectively.
Additional key action statements included in the AAP guideline include:
The current guideline does not discuss prevention of obesity, a topic the AAP notes will be addressed in a forthcoming AAP Policy statement. | https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/american-academy-of-pediatrics-landmark-obesity-guidelines-recommend-proactive-aggressive-approach |
You can write a book review and share your experiences. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books you've read. Whether you've loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them.
1
|
|
2
|
|
Introduction to the Teacher DESCRIPTlQN - SYLLABUS Welcome is a three-level course at primary level for children learning English for the first time. Its syllabus is based on graded structures and vocabulary. Welcome enables pupils to use English effectively and ensures that they have fun while learning. Welcome develops all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) through a variety of communicative tasks and everyday dialogues. It recycles vocabulary and grammar regularly. Welcome 3 consists of six modules of three units each. Each unit contains material for two lessons of about 50 minutes each. Welcome 3 also includes eight Culture Clips which provide an insight into the culture and customs of the United Kingdom. Welcome 3 and its components may be covered in a total of about 90 teaching hours. The Pupil's Book presents new words, grammar structures and functions in a clear way. The language is presented in context through lively dialogues or enjoyable texts. A variety of functional exercises, songs and games helps pupils practise the new language in an enjoyable way. Dialogues, texts, songs and other listening activities are on the CD or cassette. The fact that it is modularised enables pupils to explore themes efficiently and thoroughly. The Pupil's Book is accompanied by The Welcome Weekly booklet where the writing tasks are given in the form of articles for a magazine. The pupils can cut the individual articles out and hand them in for correction by the teacher. Alternatively, the teacher can take the booklet home every time helshe has to correct a writing task. The Workbook consists of 6 modules of 3 units each. The first and the second unit of each module are twopage lessons, while the third unit is a four-page lesson. Each module provides material for further practice under the headings of Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading and Writing and Listening. The Workbook aims to consolidate the language points and grammar structures that appear in the Pupil's Book with various exekises. It can either be used in class or set for homework. Eighteen progress tests, one per unit, are included at the end of the Workbook. They may be used to assess pupils' progress. Teachers are advised to cut the progress tests out of the pupils' workbooks at the beginning of the school year and store them in a file or a folder. You can hand them out any time you want to assess pupils' progress. The Teacher's Book gives step-by-step lesson plans, the answers to the exercises for both the Pupil's Book and the Workbook, the answers to the Progress Tests, the answers to the tests from the Test Booklet and a marking scheme for each test. It also contains extra ideas on how to presentlpractise new words and grammar structures, as well as tapescripts of the listening activities. The Test Booklet includes six photocopiable assessment tests in two versions. The Picture Flashcards include all the pictures necessary to present and revise new vocabulary. The Class CDs or Cassettes include all the recordings for the listening activities in the Pupil's Book and the Workbook. The Pupil's CD or Cassette includes all vocabulary, dialogues, texts and language 'twisters', all of which are necessary for home study. Pupils have the chance to listen to these recordings as many times as they want to improve their pronunciation and intonation. The Multimedia CD Rom includes exercises for pupils to reinforce their language skills. The Video Cassette brings the characters to life and enables pupils to learn while having fun. CHARACTERS Welcome 3 finds Oscar in Edinburgh where he has moved with his family. There, he meets some new friends, Lia, Carmen and Kamal, and together they work as reporters for their school magazine, The Welcome Weekly. Pupils will also be entertained by the characters' friend, Professor McDuff, an eccentric professor whose inventions have hilarious results. | https://b-ok.org/book/1090826/94306f |
One of the core tenets of All Routes Home: Ending Homelessness in Rural America – a national strategy to end rural homelessness announced last August – is collaboration. We can’t end homelessness as individual organizations. It takes all of us working together.
Developing cross-system and cross-sector partnerships that are important for preventing and ending homelessness takes time and work in any community. But it is uniquely challenging in rural communities, where there are limited CoC staff (often 1 or 2 staff members) covering hundreds of miles over several counties or even the entire state and where there is often limited funding. As promised in All Routes Home, HUD and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) along with our other federal partners will do what we can to hear your challenges and develop resources to help you overcome them.
A good place to start developing these partnerships is to identify those entities in your community that are receiving federal resources (or could be receiving federal resources) that can help you address homelessness. The Federal Funding Tool for Addressing Homelessness in Rural Communities showcases these programs and can be searched to either 1) look up eligible entities who can receive funds or 2) find the types of eligible costs you need in your community. Armed with this information you can identify the partner who is already carrying out these activities or an agency to apply for these funds to bring a needed service to your community.
A second necessary strategy to develop these partnerships is to identify those private or faith-based organizations in your community that can help you address homelessness. The Community Action Partnership compiled several examples of these partnerships with public and private organizations that highlight how effective these partnerships can be in serving rural communities. Who you engage will depend upon the organizations in your geography, but as recommended in a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) research brief, you will definitely want to include local landlords on your list if you haven’t already, as they are vital to the process of ending homelessness. You will also want to be creative and think outside the box about potential partners and the types of resources they might be able to bring to the table. In all cases, though, you will want to be specific about your request and highlight the value that working with your organization will bring them.
Once partnerships have been developed and resources brought to the table, you will need to ensure you are using those resources as effectively and efficiently as possible, so they will serve as many people as they can. At the federal level we are working hard to provide toolkits and trainings to share how our resources can be effectively used. HUD’s Rural Gateway acts as a clearinghouse for resources that address rural housing and economic development issues, including case studies on how rural communities have addressed housing, services, and economic development issues. But we know that we have more work to do on this.
And finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t address one of the key challenges that rural areas face – limited staff capacity. Utilizing existing staff more effectively will only get you so far. We encourage you to think about the way other community partners can help you achieve your goals (and also highlight why partnership building is so important). Also, think about the role of remote services such as telemedicine and telepsychiatry in providing necessary services to program participants. This accomplishes two goals – 1) utilizing staff in other areas of the country or making better use of your own staff’s time and 2) making it easier for program participants to receive services in areas of the country where transportation is known to be a challenge. But ultimately, more staff is typically needed, and for that you can consider recruiting Americorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) members to serve in your community.
In closing, HUD and USICH are also working with a national group of stakeholders that are committed to ending homelessness in rural areas. Forming partnerships and collaborating is hard work and rural communities have unique hurdles to overcome. Even so, we see rural communities face these challenges head on and succeeding. We at HUD with our partners at USICH and other federal agencies will continue to work with you, the experts, and other national stakeholders to share successes, emerging practices, and tips to help you end homelessness in your community. Thank you for the work that you do. | https://us5.campaign-archive.com/?u=87d7c8afc03ba69ee70d865b9&id=b14329c73c |
Festivals, exhibitions, concerts and major events... On France.fr and everywhere in France, there's always something going on. In light of the measures France has taken concerning coronavirus, we advise readers to consult the relevant organiser's website for specific updates on each event.
18
Nov
Exhibition "À Table! A meal, an art" at the Manufacture de Sèvres
Until 16 May
21
Jan
Romeo and Juliet by Benjamin Millepied at the Seine Musicale in Paris
Until 31 January
Practical info
Coronavirus COVID-19: the situation in France
Consult French government recommendations on the travel and health measures in place.
General information and practical conversions
Currency, electrical voltage, units of measurement... useful day-to-day information for your stay…
Culture
Versailles and modern art: back to the future
The Palace of Versailles: a traditional institution focused on the past? Not at all! Since 2008,…
Festivals
Saint-Malo: keeping winter rocking
La Route du Rock, is a legendary music festival held every summer in Saint-Malo, Brittany . The…
Why do the French say 'Oh la la'?
What questions do you have about the French? To get a feel for all the clichés, we checked the…
Dive into a melting pot of culture! If the museums are too busy, don't fear – there are plenty of other ways to get your culture fix in France. Hunt down Parisian street signs and look up their history on Paristique, then head down into the catacombs to glimpse the city’s remarkable underbelly.
On the Croix-Rousse hillside in Lyon you can consider whether graffiti really is art – and in Bordeaux you're spoilt for choice of theatres, cinemas and concerts.
Filter by
The MuCEM, Marseille’s newest museum
Built on the historical site of the Fort St-Jean, Marseille (External link) ’s most recent…
Feel Corsica
South of the Côte d’Azur and north of the Italian island of Sardinia, Corsica is a land of…
SPONSORED CONTENT | RemarkableFrance
Périgueux, the beating heart
You can’t help but love Périgueux! It could be because of its architectural and natural heritage:…
The carnivals of Guyana: a riot of colour!
Traditions are deeply rooted in Guyana, like the carnival which occupies pride of place in local…
A little taste of Mont Saint-Michel
Imagine you’re on Mont Saint-Michel as the spring tide comes in. High on the medieval ramparts,…
Artistic movements in France
Abbeys and cathedrals of the Middle Ages
Your journey through the French artistic movements begins…
Nature
Rendez-vous at the Fondation Monet in Giverny
Welcome to Giverny in Normandy, the home of Claude Monet! Come and discover all the secrets of this…
Everything you need to know about perfume
What if you walked away from the beaches of the Côte d’Azur? Grasse is waiting close by, hidden…
Rendez-vous at Île d'Yeu in Vendée
Just off the coast of the Vendée region lies a gem. A shining diamond, filled with untamed lands…
Nantes
Feel our top 5 sensory experiences in Nantes…
See the château of the Dukes of Brittany, which…
Jacques Martial tells us about the Memorial ACTE…
The first thing you notice about Jacques Martial is his voice: considered, warm, and deep. Back…
The Eiffel Tower
Known the world over, reproduced on everything from canvases to fridge magnets and arguably Paris’…
Discover the cultural sites come nightfall
Experience some of the most beautiful sites through a different set of eyes, by spotlight or…
Cuisine
Discovering the real Burgundy with two happy…
Beyond the vast vineyards, Antoine and Julien from the blog, Happy Bourgogne invite you to discover…
A touloulou tells all about the mysteries of…
Every year at carnival time in French Guiana, celebrated between January and March*, they are the…
10 unmissable cultural sites during your visit to…
France is a land of contrasts in which culture plays a predominant role.
During your French…
The Pont du Gard
The Pont du Gard, a masterpiece of engineering
From its 40 centuries of history, the Pont du Gard…
The ‘ABC’ of châteaux
There are magnificent châteaux dotted throughout the Loire Valley (External link) , with 21 of…
The Louvre Museum
An obligatory stop on any visit to Paris, the magnificent Louvre Museum welcomes almost 9 million…
Palace of Versailles (Château de Versailles)
The National Estate and Palace of Versailles is one of France’s best-known treasures, a UNESCO…
5 keys to understanding the Palace of Versailles
Did you know that the Palace of Versailles contains some 2300 rooms spread over 63,154m²!? This…
French Guiana
Get to know French Guiana
A kingdom of forests, rivers and animals, French Guiana seduces all…
Wine
The Vignobles & Découvertes label
“Vignobles & Découvertes”, the national wine tourism label in France, has managed French…
A little taste of Paris
Imagine yourself on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. At your feet, Paris stretches out like a…
Discover the magic
Soon you can visit the château from Portrait of a…
Le Portrait d’une jeune fille en feu, known in English-speaking countries as Portrait of a Lady on…
A flower castle
The Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire
On the banks of the River Loire, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is open all year round for…
Get a first look at the Franciscaines de Deauville
A persistent rumour has been doing the rounds in Deauville for months now: a next gen cultural…
Landmarks
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral
History Carved in Stone
Notre-Dame Cathedral has been at the epicentre of the city of Paris for…
Discover another side of Toulouse with Enflammée
There's more to Toulouse than the pink color of its bricks, airplanes and rugby players. Chantal,…
Why are the French so slim? | https://uk.france.fr/en/theme-culture/p6 |
The UK government is being urged to address the negative impact remote and hybrid working has had on employee’s mental health during the coronavirus pandemic by giving them a legal right to disconnect from work. Prospect, a trade union which represents a variety of specialists, has proposed that Companies should be legally required to negotiate boundaries with their staff and implement rules as to when employees cannot be contacted for work purposes, in the hope it will promote a better work-life balance and increase motivation and workplace productivity.
This follows a recent survey of 2,428 people, carried out by Opinium on behalf of Prospect, which found that 66% of those working from home have had difficulty in being able to separate their professional lives from personal and family responsibilities. Furthermore, 35% of those who are remote workers reported experiencing a decline in their mental health, attributed to work related matters, whilst 30% said they were now routinely working more unpaid hours than they were before.
Prospect highlighted however that whilst people’s experiences of working from home during the pandemic had varied significantly, depending on their jobs, home circumstances and, “crucially, the behaviour of their employers”, it was clear that, for millions, working from home had felt “more like sleeping in the office” because “remote technology made it harder to fully switch off”.
Earlier this month, the Republic of Ireland amended their official code of practice to give employees the right to “disconnect from work”; designed to complement and support the rights and obligations of both employers and employees under Irish employment legislation. As a result, Prospect is now calling upon the UK Government to adopt a similar stance in addressing the “dark side of remote working” and provide clarity on the apparent “blurred boundaries” caused through increased homeworking, by implementing this into the upcoming Employment Bill, the release of which was delayed due to the pandemic.
It is evident that remote working is here to stay, given that many businesses have already introduced homeworking or flexible workforce policies. At the time of publication however, the UK Government had not provided a response to Prospect in relation to implementing a ‘right to disconnect’ within the new Employment Bill and no date has been announced for its release. We do however anticipate there will be an announcement from UK Government in the near future and LAW will continue to keep you updated with any developments. | https://www.lawatwork.co.uk/news-views/union-urges-government-give-uk-employees-right-disconnect-work-27-04-2021 |
The International Nature Conservation Association (IUCN, its acronym in English) work continuously by nominating Red list which analyzes species and categorizes them, from "minor concern" to "extinct", through intermediate categories.
These classifications are used to define conservation actions, therefore they are "tremendous useful" but "to include a species, they must be individually assessed, which requires a predefined protocol, the means available and the presence of specialists who carry out the assessment, making it a slow process , "he said. Telam Anahi Espíndola, Co-author of the study in Argentina.
"The basic method we used was" random forest, "which is known for its ability to classify and predict data," he said, explaining that "in this case, we try to predict the probability that a species is or is not being compromised by using data on its range of prevalence, for the desired climatic conditions and some morphological characteristics ".
Espindol, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland in the United States, explained that "this method allows us to use all species that have already been assessed by the IUCN to train and create our" random forest "classification using species characteristics as predictive variables."
"As soon as a sufficiently precise classification model has been obtained, we can use the same model for the species we know for the modeling parameters used (range, preference climatic conditions and morphology), but for which we do not know the risk of extinction."
In this respect, the co-author of the article is published in a specialized journal PNAS He stated that he would use and classify this data "to calculate the probability that these species that have not yet been evaluated on the IUCN Red List are at risk."
These systems are "extremely useful" in the sense that it is "relatively precise and can be analyzed without access to important computing resources," it also has an "advantage" that it is based only on "public data" (open access), that is, everyone can perform these analyzes and use their own results.
"In addition, this method can be adapted to any geographic or taxonomic role, as it can also be used at national, regional or local level, and allows identification of species that IUCN should prioritize," he said. Espíndola and described this instrument as "helpful and complementary to these assessments".
The specialist pointed it out Of the 150,000 analyzed species, "about 10% (15,000) are highly likely to belong to conservation categories that are not" minor concerns ".
"From a global perspective, we identify regions that are more likely to endanger species, such as some northern Andean regions of South America, or Brazilian Atlantic forests." These regions are characterized by high endemism and the presence of many rare species, "he concluded. | https://braqq.com/argentina/using-artificial-intelligence-you-can-predict-which-plants-will-disappear/ |
Electrocardiogram patterns in acute left main coronary artery occlusion.
Acute coronary syndrome with subtotal occlusion of the left main coronary artery is rather frequently encountered in the catheterization laboratory, whereas survival to hospital admission of sudden total occlusion of the left main coronary artery is rare. The typical electrocardiographic (ECG) finding in cases with preserved flow through the left main is widespread ST-segment depression maximally in leads V4-V6 with inverted T waves and ST-segment elevation in lead aVR. In acute myocardial ischemia without (or with minor) myocardial necrosis, the ECG pattern is transient, whereas persistent ECG changes, usually without development of Q waves, are indicative of myocardial injury. In acute total left main occlusion, severe ischemia may be manifested in the ECG by life-threatening tachyarrhythmias, conduction disturbances, and ST-segment deviation. Because of the potential for life-saving therapeutic options by invasive therapy, the ECG markers of the serious condition should be recognized by the medical profession. Left main occlusion should be suspected in severely ill patients with widespread ST-segment depressions, especially in leads V4-V6 with inverted T waves or ST elevation involving the anterior precordial leads and the lateral extremity leads I and aVL. In addition, lead aVR ST elevation accompanied by either anterior ST elevation or widespread ST-segment depression may indicate left main occlusion.
| |
The vocal highlights include the tango number of expressive mezzo-soprano Anna Agathonos as Old Lady.
–
Pforzheimer Zeitung, 27.02.2017, Anita Molnar
Teresa in
“
La Sonnambula“, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, 2015
Anna Agathonos stands out with her excellent interpretation of the miller Teresa.
–
Munich and Co Blog, 11.10.2015, Luc Roger
One would have granted Anna Agathonos as Teresa a big aria…
–
Münchner Merkur, 10.10.2015, Markus Thiel
Ježibaba in
“
Rusalka
“
, Theater Pforzheim, 2015
The impressive Anna Agathonos equipped the role of Ježibaba with a deep, profound and perfectly placed mezzo-soprano.
–
Der Opernfreund.de, 19.03.2015, Ludwig Steinbach
Anna Agathonos was the perfect cast for the witch Ježibaba. She moved relentlessly between a pleasant, beautiful sound in her voice and a funny acting on stage. (Theater Pforzheim´s guest performance in Schwäbisch-Gmünd.)
–
Rems Zeitung, 12.05.2015, Christine Lakner
Soloist in Mahler´s 3rd Symphony, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, 2014
One of the highlights was the alto solo "O Mensch! Gib Acht!" in the 4th movement, performed with a touching intensity and a warm timbre by mezzo-soprano Anna Agathonos.
–
WAZ, 02.07.2014, Elisabeth Höving
Ulrica in
“
Un Ballo in Maschera
“
at the Theater Pforzheim, 2013
With her Ulrica, Anna Agathonos was able to give the dramatic dark plot the right atmosphere and alto voice. The deep regions of her beautifully voluminous voice were impressive… (Theater Pforzheim´s guest performance in Schwäbisch-Gmünd.)
–
Rems-Zeitung, 2013, Christine Lakner
Amneris in
“
Aida“, an open air concert performance in Pforzheim, 2012
Anna Agathonos in the role of Amneris offered great dramatic temper with a rich vocal volume in all registers. The great expressiveness of the mezzo-soprano was particularly impressive in the low register.
–
Ruth Wolfstieg, July 2012
Magdalena in
“
Der Evangelimann“, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, 2012
Anna Agathonos was clear, dark and touching as Magdalena.
–
Kronen Zeitung Kärnten, 11.02.2012, Andrea Hein
…Anna Agathonos with a rich alto voice and a calm stage presence…
–
Der Opernfreund, 08.03.2012, Hermann Becke
Dalila in
“
Samson et Dalila
“
, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, 2009
Anna Agathonos embodied the seductive Pharisees priestess Dalila with a captivating stage presence. After having sung Amneris and Azucena, her mezzo has obtained a deep, burgundy colour, which reminds of another Greek mezzo-soprano, Agnes Baltsa. Agathonos thus gives a very impressive role portrait with a tasteful French diction.
–
Der Opernfreund, 2009, Martin Freitag
Amneris in
“
Aida“, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, 2008
The portrayal of Amneris by Anna Agathonos was sensational. With fascinating body tension and meaningful facial expressions, she created an slick salon snake, who finally succombs to self-pity.
–
Das Opernglas, Dec 2008, A. Laska
Anna Agathonos succeeds with the difficult part of Amneris in a well thought-out and intelligent manner.
–
Der Neue Merker, Der Opernfreund, Oct 2008, Peter Bilsing
Carmen, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, 2007
The reviewer doesn't know what to admire the most in Anna Agathonos´ Carmen interpretation: her impeccably respectable and cultivated voice - the change into the dramatic Fach has been excellently accomplished. Or her incredible, multi-faceted variability and performance art. Not only does she phrase with an enormous musicality and intelligent text interpretation, far from the usual clichées, but she also convinces with enormous artistical sobriety, far from all the well-known Carmencita merits.
–
Online Musik Magazin, Der Opernfreund, Apr 2007, Peter Bilsing
But the top performance of this evening was given by Anna Agathonos as Carmen: extremely versatile… and with total dedication... she embodied the most diverse sides of this strong character. Her acting was only surpassed by her expressive singing: the lower part of the voice, so crucial for this role, sounded velvety and full; the perfect middle register was followed seamlessly by a radiant, powerful height. From soft sounds to powerful attacks, she really had a full range to draw from!
–
Der-Neue-Merker, Apr 2007, Dr. Andreas Haunold
Cassandra in „Les Troyens“, Musiktheater im Revier, 2007
Anna Agathonos is a Cassandra of great amplitude, with a nuanced legato which does not prevent emotional bursts... She also testifies of an impeccable French diction.
–
The Hector Berlioz Website, Jan 2007, Pierre-René Serna
Nerestano in
“
Zaira
“
, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, 2006
The star of the performance was actually Anna Agathonos, who has found another favorite part in the role of Nerestano and is proving more and more to be a real authority in this Fach, prone to have a career also in larger houses. The voice's capital is the rich, but not "fat" middle register and the never vulgarly chested, sonorous depth which responds very lightly and without pressure and is seamlessly connected to the other registers. But also the well thought-out, intelligent text interpretation and the identification with the character entrusted to her, which also requires a more determined tone, deserve to be mentioned.
–
Online Musik Magazin, Jun 2006, Thomas Tillmann
In the role of Nerestano Anna Agathonos had a great personal success. The Greek woman with a strong personality possesses a dark mezzo-soprano voice, which is simultaneously flexible and capable of dramatic attacks...
–
Das Opernglas, Jul-Aug 2006, A. Laska
The star amongst the ladies is certainly the Greek Anna Agathonos (Nerestano) with a mediterranean mezzo voice of great range which reminds me of the young Baltsa - a new Belcanto/Rossini singer is growing up here.
–
Orpheus, Jul-Aug 2006, Geerd Heinsen
Azucena in Il Trovatore, Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, 2006
Anna Agathonos gave the old gypsy Azucena, afflicted by terrible memories and dark secrets alike, an impressive profile. Agathonos mastered the part vocally effortlessly, whereby the intensive acting was also transferred to the vocal expression, which led to a thrilling performance... For Agathonos there was (justifiably) special jubilation. | http://www.ascolta-artists.com/EN/person/157/reviews/ |
It is important to teach kids how to be upstanders. If you want to teach your kids to be active bystanders, then that can be a good thing because it will reduce the audience that a bully desires.
It can also help to support the victim and prevent trauma from happening too. They can be a positive influence that can greatly diminish the effect of a bully. It will also help to encourage other students to be positive.
Key Takeaways:
-
Kids need to grow up to be responsible in their own right. Bystanders can intervene correctly and improve any kind of situation as well.
-
Teachers can do their part when it comes to instructing kids to do just that. Upstanding students are an important part of any kind of community as well.
-
These students are a shining example of how people tend to reaction. Get to know the research and what teachers are doing these days as well.
"When bystanders intervene correctly, studies find they can cut bullying more than half the time and within 10 seconds." | https://kidscharacterbuilding.com/character-education/quick-read/teaching-kids-how-to-be-upstanders |
The information and data published on the website is strictly for informational purposes You may view, download and print pages from the website, provided that:
- You must not republish material from this website (including republication on another website), or reproduce or store material from this website in any public or private electronic retrieval system
- You must not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, visit, or otherwise exploit our website or material on our website for a commercial purpose, without our express written consent
- You must not edit or otherwise modify any material on the website. Whilst we endeavour to ensure that the information on this website is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website remains available or that the material on this website is kept up-to-date. We may update the data from time-to-time. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version. | http://sdhmgssschool.com/disclaimer.html |
Islamabad / Moscow: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the Corona epidemic has badly affected human lives and livelihoods around the world, we can turn the crisis into a new possibility by promoting regional cooperation.
Addressing a meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Moscow (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that despite difficult circumstances and difficulties, we have continued the beneficial partnership process in the SCO. The United Nations has a central role to play in promoting global peace and security and global development.
He said that long-term conflicts should be resolved peacefully in order to achieve the goals of development, economic development, poverty alleviation and improvement of the social standard of the people.
It is also wrong to use the global epidemic for politics and to link any region, religion or class to it or to make false accusations. In this environment of uncertain and brutal competition, cooperation should be the leading force in global politics instead of confrontation. Returning Afghan refugees to their homes with dignity should also be an integral part of peace talks.
In a video message after the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, Shah Mehmood said that Pakistan had proposed to set up a Center of Excellence in Islamabad to alleviate poverty. Agreed to establish. All the member states except India agreed on the plans of BRI and C-Pak. The inclination of the seven foreign ministers to one side and the separation of India, however, was taken note of by all.
Seven foreign ministers were on the side of the joint declaration and India objected to one paragraph of China. After much discussion, China’s point of view was accepted and India reluctantly agreed.
In addition, Shah Mehmood met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The Foreign Minister said that Pakistan wishes to promote bilateral cooperation in various fields to further strengthen and consolidate bilateral relations with Russia.
Shah Mehmood also met his Chinese counterpart Wang Zhi and said that Pakistan was a supporter of the one-China policy and stood by China on issues related to China’s sovereignty and national interest.
Shah Mehmood also met with his Kyrgyz counterpart Genghis Aderbekov and agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in multilateral fields. | https://webeenow.com/shanghai-organization-of-foreign-ministers-meeting-7-member-states-agree-on-c-pac-plans-india-refuses/ |
This week Antonio Novaes from INCON Partner MCI Group showcased new event and engagement models in two education sessions at IMEX Frankfurt all about “Festivalisation of Events”.
Association audiences are getting younger and they can network from their device at any time. They no longer have to wait for the annual event to connect with their peers, learn, exchange or even get their certification. Relying on the traditional and familiar approaches will not be sufficient to fulfil these changing and more demanding audiences. So we need to create and offer new event offerings.
Festivalisation of meetings is a convergence of live user experiences and human-machine interfaces. In the last few years, the trend has increased significantly; and associations are starting to see it as way to better engage their communities.
Finding a balance between what is perceived to have worked in the past with what needs to change for the future is hard. But if done right, it will boost engagement, drive conversation and create an experience which people will recall and share with others. And without knowing it, they will contribute to spreading the message and influencing others through their own experience. | https://kongres-magazine.eu/2019/05/incons-festivalisation-of-events/ |
Statistics from her B.I.G. award letter:
•200,000 works of art and writing were initially submitted in all categories
•7,123 of these were submissions of art from students in Grade 9
•434 of these artworks earned Gold Keys, qualifying them for national judging
•14 of these artworks earned Gold Medals, qualifying them for B.I.G consideration
•2 artworks, including Anna’s, earned the B.I.G Award for Grade 9
Anna’s drawing was part of the 2012 National ART.WRITE.NOW NYC Exhibition, showcasing National Gold Medalist work. It was on display in New York City in June 2012 coinciding with the national celebration at Carnegie Hall on June 1, 2012.
Most recently, Anna received yet another letter from The Alliance stating that her drawing has been chosen as a part of a select group of works to go on tour to several art museums around the nation as part of the ART.WRITE.NOW.TOUR 12-13. November 16, 2012 through Dec 30, 2012 Anna’s piece will be on display at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach. | https://vmfa.museum/connect/outstanding-young-talent-gains-national-attention/ |
Offering an in-depth analysis of the relationship between touch and language through the history of philosophy, this book revitalizes the field of haptic studies, providing new insights into the philosophy of language and ontological nature of touch. The Language of Touch draws together an international team of linguists, anthropologists, and philosophers to demonstrate from a variety of disciplinary perspectives that the experience of touch is inextricable from the structure of language. Examining the intersections between phenomenology of touch and poststructurallinguistics, this work draws upon figures such as Marx, Merleau-Ponty, Nancy, Derrida, and Lacan to question both how language structures touch and how touch structures language.
Publication details
Full citation [Harvard style]:
Komel, M. (2019). The language of touch: philosophical examinations in linguistics and haptic studies, Bloomsbury, London.
This document is unfortunately not available for download at the moment. | http://sdm.ophen.org/pub-150056 |
Fun readings about Color, Art and Segmation!
July 30, 2012
London – A Town for Art Lovers Each year visitors from all over the world travel to London to see Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Covent Garden, The
July 26, 2012
New Pattern Set for SegPlayPC recently released (see more details here) Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (1844-1916) was an American painter who is best known for his realistic depictions of the male...
July 23, 2012
For Pearl Fryar, art doesn’t merely exist in the form of oil paints on a canvas or chalk pastels on paper, but it exists in a most unusual place: His garden.
July 14, 2012
Video games are being acknowledged as an art form. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is so convinced of this that it is currently hosting an exhibit called “The Art of Video Games”.
July 13, 2012
For an artist, Sansepolcro, Italy might be considered heaven on earth. Why? Because it was the birthplace and hometown of Piero della Francesca, painter of the Resurrection.
July 9, 2012
Contemporary artists are constantly stretching the boundaries of art by using unconventional materials to craft their artwork. Way back when, “true art” consisted of things like realistic oil paintings and...
July 5, 2012
Have you ever wondered why certain works of art are so famous? For instance, why does the Mona Lisa enjoy celebrity status, even though there have been scores of other...
July 3, 2012
Art is beginning to be integrated into science-based programs, such as engineering. Whereas engineering has traditionally been studied alone, now universities
July 1, 2012
What is beautiful? The term is a bit subjective, don’t you think? After all, isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?
It most certainly is, but one undeniable quality about color is its ability to make all things beautiful! | http://segmation.com/blog/2012/07/ |
Britain's transport systems are broken. Away from the major commuter routes, buses, trams and trains are so infrequent and expensive that cars are essentially made a necessity.
This in turn has made air pollution - mostly caused by cars - one of the biggest causes of preventable illness in the UK, causing at least 40,000 premature deaths a year and costing the NHS £15 billion.
And surface transport is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, with almost no progress in reducing them since 1990. The UK's share of international aviation and shipping emissions has risen by almost 80 per cent since 1990.
Liberal Democrats will meet this challenge by:
- Investing in public transport, buses, trams and railways to enable people to travel more easily while reducing their impact on the environment.
- Placing a far higher priority on encouraging walking and cycling - the healthiest forms of transport.
- Accelerating the transition to ultra-low-emission transport - cars, buses and trains - through taxation, subsidy and regulation.
Together these steps will tackle the clean air crisis, meet the challenge of climate change, improve people's health, stimulate local and regional prosperity and develop British zero-carbon industries, with benefits for jobs, growth and exports. | https://buckinghamlibdems.org.uk/en/article/2019/1342922/improving-transport |
In Wyoming, a motorist who causes the death of another person while driving in a criminally negligent manner can be charged with "homicide by vehicle." Wyoming also has a more serious charge called "aggravated homicide by vehicle" that applies to drivers who kill another person while driving recklessly or in violation of the state's DUI (driving under the influence) or BWI (boating while intoxicated) laws.
Criminal negligence. For purposes of Wyoming's homicide by vehicle law, a motorist acts negligently by unknowingly doing something that poses a "substantial and unjustifiable risk" to others. The risk—in regard to nature and degree—must amount to a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would use under like circumstances.
Recklessness. As with negligence, recklessness involves acting in a way that poses a substantial and unjustifiable risk to others. However—unlike with negligence—recklessness requires proof that the person was aware of but disregarded such a risk.
Causation. A driver can be convicted of homicide by vehicular only if there's proof that the driver was a legal cause of the death. It's not enough to merely show the defendant drove negligently, recklessly, or while under the influence and someone died—there needs to be a direct link between the defendant's driving and the death.
Under the influence. For purposes of Wyoming's vehicular homicide law, "under the influence" means the motorist:
The consequences of a homicide by vehicle conviction depend on the circumstances. However, the possible penalties are:
All homicide by vehicle convictions result in a one-year license revocation.
HOW MUCH TIME WOULD YOU ACTUALLY SPEND IN JAIL?
Sentencing law is complex. For example, a statute might list a "minimum" jail sentence that's longer than the actual amount of time (if any) a defendant will have to spend behind bars. All kinds of factors can affect actual punishment, including credits for good in-custody behavior and jail-alternative work programs.
If you face criminal charges, consult an experienced criminal defense lawyer. An attorney with command of the rules in your jurisdiction will be able to explain the law as it applies to your situation.
Homicide by vehicle is a serious crime that can result in a long prison sentence. If you've been arrested for homicide by vehicle—or any other crime—get in contact with a criminal defense attorney right away. The facts of every case are different. An experienced defense attorney can explain how the law applies to the facts of your case and help you decide on the best plan of action. | https://www.drivinglaws.org/resources/wyomings-vehicular-homicide-laws-and-penalties.htm |
Copyright © 2000 Sarah Phillips CraftyBaking.com All rights reserved.
After the bread dough has been Mixed and Kneaded, it is usually allowed to rest and rise from fermentation*, with its length being dependent on the type of bread recipe being made. Also known as primary fermentation, this stage helps barely cohesive bread dough become more manageable – the yeast cells produce carbon dioxide, which diffuses into the dough's air pockets, slowly inflating and raising it as a result. Ths is also where most of the bread's flavor is developed from the wheat flour fermenting.
*NOTE: Technically, the initiation of fermentation really starts when yeast is triggered by hydration, from either water or some other liquid, and there is a presence of a food source, such as added sugar (but not sucrose, or table sugar) or that derived from the complex starch molecules from flour, a complex carbohydrate.
Afterwards, the risen bread dough is "punched down", also known as degassing. Optionally, dried fruit, nuts, and seeds can be kneaded into the bread dough.
PRIMARY FERMENTATION
Bread recipes specify the length of fermentation and how much the dough should rise. Choices for raising are:
1. Short Rest Period - For bread recipes using Instant Active Dry Yeast: The first rise is usually a short rest period, taking about 10 minutes, and afterwards, it is divided and shaped. The dough does utilize a final fermentation period after being shaped.
However, even with recipes using Instant Active Dry Yeast, a longer overnight refrigerator rise is used to develop its irregular air bubbles in its crumb, such as our Easy French Baguettes Recipe. A final fermentation period follows its shaping stage.
2. Rise until (ALMOST) doubled - For bread recipes using Active Dry or Fresh Yeast, requires two rises, a first one after mixing, and a second one after shaping: Allow the dough to rise until ALMOST double in volume or bulk, although bread dough, heavy with bran and grains, will not rise much. This is tested when a fingertip is pressed into the top of the dough; fully fermented dough will retain the impression for at least 5 minutes and won’t spring back. It’s because the gluten has been stretched to the limit of its elasticity you have developed in the dough.
SARAH SAYS: This is done with our Make Ahead Dinner Rolls Recipe.
Use a bowl or container a little larger than double the initial size of the dough for rising in and make sure it is well greased. Some baker's use a dough rising bucket. You do not want it to overflow its container resulting in tearing the gluten strands. Cover the dough with greased-side-down plastic wrap or the cover that comes with the dough-rising container.
NOTE: 4 cups of flour hits the 2-quart mark when it's doubled
SARAH SAYS: Bread recipes typically instruct you to "place dough in a warm place until doubled in size." Because these instructions are vague, baker's have problems with this step. For direct dough, it normally takes about an hour to 1 1/2 hours for the yeast to accumulate a volume of carbon dioxide gas strong enough to stretch the gluten strands that hold in and make the dough rise. For some recipes, the ball of dough must be smooth and rounded. It must be well greased and the rising container tightly covered. Rising time is also influenced by the amount of kneading, too (if too little or too much, dough will not rise well.)
3. Turning or to turn the dough after every 30 to 60 minutes, until it has doubled. With wetter, less developed Artisan Bread recipes, most professional bread bakers gently deflate, stretch, and fold the dough. which helps develop and stretch the gluten strands in the dough(helping to make them more extensible), redistribute the yeast and retain gasses that form. This gentle action also adds in air bubbles, and dispels some of the carbon dioxide and alcohol build-up in the dough, similiar to "punching down". Turning also orients the gluten strands in one direction by helping the glutenin molecules link up end to end which results in a finer and more even crumb in the finished baked loaf.
Afterwards, the dough is rounded into a ball and left to "rest" for a period of time before the final bread shaping takes place.
SARAH SAYS: Breads like focaccia and ciabatta, which could be 65 to 80% or more hydrated, are extremely sticky. For example, we use this technique with the Parmesan, Bacon and Walnut Topped Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread Recipe after mixing and a short resting period. This stretching and folding is repeated about a dozen times, and stopped before the dough starts sticking to the work surface. The dough will change from lumpy to smooth and elastic.
4. Multiple rising periods: Some recipes require multiple rising periods, such as a punch down and a second rise, such as in long-fermentation lean dough. As long as the dough stays in bulk (prior to dividing into smaller units), it is still in primary fermentation regardless of how many times it is punched down.
SARAH SAYS: We use this with our Fougasse Bread Tutorial Recipe.
PUNCHING DOWN (DEGASSING)
You can hold the bread recipe in fermentation for only so long, requiring the dough to be punched down or degassed, which is a better way to describe the procedure. The degree or severity to which this is done is entirely dependent on the type of bread recipe being made.
Other times the "punch down" is simply the transfer of dough from the bowl to a lightly floured work surface, allowing the gas to gently expell from the weght of the dough, but retaining enough to keep a nice, airy gluten network. We do this with the Kalamata Olive and Rosemary Boule Recipen or the Skillet Pizzas Tutorial.
Degassing the bread dough is necessary because there are a number of chemicals naturally present in the dough that will eventually break down the gluten if the fermentation period is not halted. If the feeding yeasts are not interrupted, they would eventually consume all of the available sugar in the dough. The bread dough would overrise during this first fermentation step and then, eventually collapse - sometimes in the oven during the final baking stage - from overstretched and torn gluten strands.
With degassing, you are expelling the carbon dioxide while retaining some air, redistributing the yeast cells for more growth (redistributes the yeast's food source) and relaxing the gluten. This helps to improve both the texture and flavor of the finished bread. It also helps to equalize the temperature throughout the dough - the inside is warmer than the outside - so when shaped in the next step, the dough can rise evenly during its final rise. It also allows the gluten in wheat flour to relax, making the dough easier to shape, plus the dough is softer because of the added moisture (fermentation generates heat, water and alcohol) and the gluten-interrupting bubbles. Degassing also divides the air pockets in the dough, making them smaller and more numerous, ultimately contributing to the fine texture of the finished bread.
QUESTION: My dough has collapsed while rising. What do I do now?
SARAH SAYS: You can recognize it because the dough is fallen - with a flat, wrinkled top. As a result, the bread will be dense and sour tasting, the opposite of what you intended. With over-risen dough, you can gently knead it, let it rise again and do the best from that; it really depends how "over-risen" the dough has become. If the dough collapses during baking, there is nothing that can be done to save the loaf since the gluten strands, which act like rubber bands, have been overstretched or broken. The dough is unable to hold its shape properly.
KNEAD IN DRIED FRUITS, NUTS, AND SEEDS
Sometimes dried fruits, nuts, and seeds are kneaded into the degassed dough or after its first short rest. If added during the mixing stage, the sugar in dried fruit inhibits yeast fermentation by binding up water for their growth. Nuts and seeds act like tiny scissors in the dough, and effectively hamper the gluten networking forming mixing, kneading and fermentation steps.
After degassing the dough after its primary fermentation, stretch the dough delicately with your fingertips, into a thick square - do not press down on the dough while doing so. Sprinkle a large pinch of dried fruits or nuts all over the top surface and then fold the dough in half and knead to incorporate for about 2 minutes. Don't get discouraged as it takes a little more time to mix in. Repeat a couple of times - don't overdo it!
SARAH SAYS: if using dried fruit in a yeast bread recipe, soak it first. If not done, it will absorb a lot of water from the bread's ingredients, which results in a drier loaf. HOW TO. | https://www.craftybaking.com/learn/baked-goods/bread/stages-of-yeast-bread-baking/stage-iii-primary-fermentation-and-punching-down |
Fewer churches meant less sculpture and less ecclesiastical decoration. But some new works did appear, such as Christ the Redeemer (1926-31), the huge soapstone statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. Designed by Heitor da Silva Costa, and sculpted by Paul Landowski, it is the largest Art Deco statue in the world. Other noteworthy pieces of modern Christian sculpture include: Tarcisius, Christian Martyr (1868, Musee d'Orsay, marble) carved by Jean-Alexandre-Joseph Falguiere; Genesis (1929-31, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester) and Adam (1938, Harewood House), both by Jacob Epstein.
Romanesque architecture had to cope with the growing number of pilgrims visiting the sites of holy relics across Europe. In France/Spain, for instance, massive archways were built to cope with the huge devout crowds on the El Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (1075-1211) in Galicia, northwestern Spain, where the remains of the apostle Saint James are reportedly interred. Other Romanesque churches on the route included St Etienne Pilgrimage Church (1063, Nevers), and Saint-Sernin Pilgrimage Church (1120, Toulouse). Christian Canvas Art
Ephesians 5:25-33: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ..." Share Your Faith Products
Song of Solomon 8:6-7: “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised." Christian Gifts
Artists were commissioned more secular genres like portraits, landscape paintings and because of the revival of Neoplatonism, subjects from classical mythology. In Catholic countries, production continued, and increased during the Counter-Reformation, but Catholic art was brought under much tighter control by the church hierarchy than had been the case before. From the 18th century the number of religious works produced by leading artists declined sharply, though important commissions were still placed, and some artists continued to produce large bodies of religious art on their own initiative.
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ... Share Your Faith Products
Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work. He fashioned the two pillars of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of both.read more. | https://awakeningdesign.org/biblical-definition-of-hope.html |
The renewal of the early 20th-century Shijo-cho Ofune-hoko Float Machiya in Kyoto, Japan, has received the Award of Excellence in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Ten projects from five countries – Australia, China, India, Japan and Thailand – have been recognized by an international Jury of conservation experts in this year’s Awards. The Jury met in August in Penang, Malaysia to review 41 entries from eight countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
Award of Excellence
The Jury praised the Award of Excellence winner, the Shijo-cho Ofune-hoko Float Machiya, for “celebrating Kyoto culture through the safeguarding of the city’s endangered wooden townhouse typology as well as the iconic annual Gion Festival. The meticulously restored building today houses the Ofune-hoko float, itself resurrected after a 150-year hiatus to regain its place of pride in the annual ritual parade. The project sets a model for its seamless approach to safeguarding built heritage intertwined with intangible cultural heritage in a mutually enriching way.”
The restoration of Shijo Ofune-hoko Float Machiya is the third phase of Kyoto Machiya Townhouses project. After its conservation in the summer of 2017, the traditional machiya was resurged as the cultural center of the community, serving as the permanent home for the renowned Ofune-hoko Float in Kyoto.
Other Awardees
Other projects recognised in the 2018 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation include the following:
Award of Distinction:
- The LAMO Centre, Ladakh, India
Award of Merit:
- 5 Martin Place, Sydney, Australia
- Aijing Zhuang, Fujian, China
- Old Warehouse of the Commercial Bank of Honjo, Saitama, Japan
Honourable Mention:
- Hengdaohezi Town, Heilongjiang, China
- Rajabai Clock Tower & University of Mumbai Library Building, Mumbai, India
- Ruttonsee Muljee Jetha Fountain, Mumbai, India
New Design in Heritage Contexts:
- Kaomai Estate 1955, Chiang Mai, Thailand
- The Harts Mill, Port Adelaide, Australia
Background
The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation programme recognises the efforts of private individuals and organisations that have successfully conserved structures and buildings of heritage value in the region. The Awards aim to encourage other property owners to undertake conservation projects within their communities, either independently or by seeking public-private partnerships. Awarded projects reflect a clear understanding and application of various criteria, such as the understanding of the place, technical achievement, and the project’s social and policy impact.
‘Ever since the Awards programme was established in 2000, we have witnessed major strides in cultural heritage conservation over the past twenty years,’ said Dr Duong Bich Hanh, Chair of the Jury and Chief of UNESCO Bangkok’s Culture Unit. ‘This year’s projects show the heightened level of public awareness, policy support and private sector investment in an ever-widening range of heritage typologies. It is notable how the 2018 Awards winners showcase the increasing recognition of industrial heritage in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Preparation of 2019 Awards
The upcoming year 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of the Awards, with a regional event planned in Penang, Malaysia, where the Awards programme was originally launched. It will provide a platform to reflect on the past two decades of the Awards and the larger realm of heritage in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as to engage in a strategic forward-looking dialogue on the role and contribution of cultural heritage more broadly. Past winners, Jury members, heritage conservation professionals, academics, and private and public partners will be invited.
The event will be organized in collaboration with Malaysia’s urban regeneration organization Think City. UNESCO Bangkok and Think City have signed a three-year partnership spanning 2018 to 2020 in order to promote outstanding practices in cultural heritage preservation in Asia and the Pacific.
Call for Entries for the 2019 UNESCO Awards will be made at the end of 2018, and further details will be available on the awards website. | http://asemus.museum/news/winners-announced-2018-unesco-asia-pacific-cultural-heritage-conservation-awards/ |
What gets measured gets done – why it’s time to align on embodied carbon metrics
Leading European research and design organisations join forces to establish EU embodied carbon baselines, targets, and benchmarks with support from Laudes Foundation.
Buildings are responsible for nearly 40 percent of global CO2 emissions, and around 10% of this comes from embodied carbon emissions from building materials and (de)construction processes (The 2020 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, UN Environment). In recent years, ‘embodied carbon’ has become a hot topic for policymakers, the finance industry, and the building industry itself. Yet, while there is wide agreement that reducing embodied carbon in buildings must be urgently addressed, there is far less alignment and clarity on how to do that.
To scale action on embodied carbon mitigation, stakeholders will need to come together to set ambitious targets to inform regulation and spur industry action. It is critical to know where we stand today using reliable data across different types of buildings and countries and understand where the Paris Agreement requires us to get to.
Laudes Foundation and global engineering consultants Rambøll along with building LCA experts such as Harpa Birgisdottir from BUILD at Aalborg University and Martin Röck affiliated to KU Leuven, are addressing this critical data gap by developing an Europe-wide framework for embodied carbon benchmarks. Their shared vision is that such benchmarks will enable industry, finance, and policymakers to set ambitious yet realistic targets on embodied carbon and measure progress against them.
The initiative comes at a critical time. While the EU’s ‘Renovation Wave’ was launched in October 2020, aiming to double annual renovation rates across Europe in the next 10 years, and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is under revision, there is a moment for EU legislators to follow the lead of ambitious countries like Finland and France in regulating embodied carbon. An EU 2050 roadmap for reducing whole life-cycle carbon emissions in buildings is also in the pipeline.
James Drinkwater, Head of Built Environment at Laudes Foundation, says: “While it’s extremely important to improve the energy efficiency of older buildings, there is a danger that efforts to demolish old buildings and rebuild could end up causing more harm than good if we don’t have a clear understanding of the embodied carbon footprint of new buildings. We urgently need a reliable and standardised way of measuring whole life-cycle carbon in the building and construction sector to incentivise and enable action.” The team is joined by representatives from the European Commission, World Green Building Council and CRREM on the project steering committee – and they are now appealing to other stakeholders working in this space to come forward.
“Our ultimate ambition is to develop a set of standardised metrics and benchmarks for measuring embodied carbon that can be used across all 27 EU member states,” says Lars Riemann, Executive Director at Ramboll Buildings. “This is about achieving alignment on measuring and reducing a critical element of the construction sector’s overall carbon footprint”.
To succeed, there is a strong need for collaboration around existing data on embodied carbon and engagement on national level across Europe. The team is currently collecting LCA data on embodied carbon from existing whole buildings LCA’s, and aim to have indicative baseline, target, and benchmark values for five pilot countries by June 2021. The pilot phase of the project will be concluded in January 2022, but the ambition is to continue the work in 2022-2023 with a scale-up phase bringing in new partners and offering full EU coverage.
If you want to know more, please contact: [email protected] . | https://www.laudesfoundation.org/latest/press/2021/cramboll |
There are always exceptions to the rule. Logocentrism encourages us to treat linguistic signs as distinct from and inessential to the phenomena they represent, rather than as inextricably bound up with them. Both schools emphasized the of texts, elevating it far above generalizing discussion and speculation about either to say nothing of the author's psychology or biography, which became almost taboo subjects or. Reading was no longer viewed solely as educational or as a sacred source of religion; it was a form of entertainment. Some critics believe that the only thing that matters is a reader's personal reaction to a text.
Then, according to the second canon, the historical Person of Christ was transfigured by faith; therefore everything that raises it above historical conditions must be removed. It has been closely associated with the birth and growth of queer studies. We usually see literary criticism in a book review or critical essay; however, the Internet has made all forms of criticism readily available in everything from personal blogs to social media. They examine what sort of politics the author may draw from: Marxism, feminism, liberalism, socialism, etc. In the case where literature is regarded as imaginative or creative script, it remains a question if philosophy, history along with natural sciences is taken as unimaginative or uncreative. They proposed various formal notations for narrative components and transformations and attempted a descriptive taxonomy of existing stories along these lines.
I must admit science fiction elements makes slicd of stories more interesting to me. However, they may get attached to nothing without any absurdity. Many literary critics also work in or. I wrote this column today in hopes of helping those authors out there that are trying to wrap their heads around what literary fiction is, and how they can break into the magazine and journals that have been eluding them. You Play the Girl: And Other Vexing Stories That Tell Women Who They Are.
Charles Harrison and Paul Wood. Had he not died in 1855, before Andersen had written his most stringent tales, he might well have qualified his criticism. This approach adheres to the humanistic and civil element in poems, dramas and other art work and evaluates the impact and influence of works of literature in a stringent moral context. This implies that literary language is a special type as compared to the ordinary one which can use commonly. Though the two activities are closely related, literary are not always, and have not always been, theorists.
Literary Criticism — The analysis of a literary text though various lenses that highlight authorial stance, purpose, and perspective Part of the fun of reading good literature is looking for all its meanings and messages. It includes a general analysis of the writers as opposed to a detailed analysis of their individual works. Thanks, your comments helped greatly. The secondary goal seeks to establish a reconstruction of the historical situation of the author and recipients of the text. This is someplace to start, at least.
Instead, new critics ignore an author's background and politics and instead analyze the text on its own merits. One indication of this fact, according to Derrida, is that descriptions of speech in Western philosophy often rely on examples and related to writing. The late nineteenth century brought renown to authors known more for their literary criticism than for their own literary work, such as. Is the Higher Criticism Scholarly? The retrieval of 's writing by is an example. The Sanskrit includes literary criticism on ancient and Sanskrit drama. Not sure what that would be. Literary criticism was also employed in other forms of medieval and from the 9th century, notably by in his al-Bayan wa-'l-tabyin and al-Hayawan, and by in his Kitab al-Badi.
There are many different ways to evaluate literature. This shouldn't come as a great surprise, since it was the Greeks who gave us such masters of the critique as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Lately, the third canon, which lays down that the person of Christ has been disfigured by faith, requires that everything should be excluded, deeds and words and all else that is not in keeping with His character, circumstances and education, and with the place and time in which He lived. I don't think anyone could argue that it is not literary, but also embraces the post-apocalypse often described in horror. Marxist Criticism In case of the Marxist critical analysis, poetry is analyzed on the basis of its political correctness and calls for mention of support for workers against capitalist exploitation and perils of free market perils. In horror, we want to know who or what is dragging the children into the sewers and eating them. Academic literary critics teach in literature departments and publish in academic journals, and more popular critics publish their criticism in broadly circulating periodicals such as the Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Yorker.
In regard to the , higher criticism deals with the , the relations among , , and. Its weird, I always wrote genre fiction, but had a hard time finding my genre. More specifically, modern feminist criticism deals with those issues related to the perceived intentional and unintentional patriarchal programming within key aspects of society including education, politics and the work force. We will take an illustration from the Person of Christ. Feminist scholarship has developed a multitude of ways to unpack literature in order to understand its essence.
Feminist criticism may also look at , looking at how factors including race, sexuality, physical ability, and class are also involved. Nihil obstat by Raymond E. The analysis is based on communal beliefs since mythology is strongly derived from religious beliefs, anthropology, and cultural history. There are many that have adopted The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as literary, which would make that literary fantasy, maybe. The Library: An Illustrated History. More contemporary scholars attempt to understand the intersecting points of femininity and complicate our common assumptions about gender politics by accessing different categories of identity race, class, sexual orientation, etc. It is the attention and improvisation to these small elements and details, which we have gladly taken up. | http://georgiajudges.org/what-does-literary-criticism-mean.html |
National Symposium:
Responding to Cronulla: Rethinking Multiculturalism February 21, 2006 Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University, Nathan (Queensland)
Report prepared by:
Toh Swee-Hin
Director, Multi-Faith Centre Griffith University Nathan campus, Brisbane
Narayan Gopalkrishnan Director, Centre for Multiculturalism & Community Development, University of the Sunshine Coast
On Feb 21, 2006. the Centre for Multicultural & Community Development, University of the Sunshine Coast and Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University collaborated with the Dept. of the Premier & Cabinet, Queensland Government and diverse faith, interfaith, multicultural and academic institutions and organizations to hold a National Symposium on the theme of "Responding to Cronulla: Rethinking Multiculturalism."
The Symposium was an effort to clarify public understanding on the recent conflict and violence in Cronulla in southern Sydney in December, 2005, which has raised considerable concern among all sectors of Australian society. A variety of perspectives have been voiced in analyzing the riots, including the complexity of racisms emerging in Australia, which can be overt, violent, and often linked with youth, gangs, culture, ethnicity, identity, nationhood, gender and human rights. Messages perpetuated through public discourses and media have also directly linked the events in Cronulla with the alleged "failure"' of multiculturalism, government "bending" to ethnic groups and/or the "unwillingness" of ethnic communities to assimilate. The debates have been reminiscent of post-World War II discussions on assimilation and the White Australia policy.
The Symposium program took account of the following key questions that have emerged from the recent events in Cronulla:
• What are the factors in Australian society that have led to events such as Cronulla?
• Can such conflicts happen again in NSW or elsewhere in Australia or is it a one-off event?
• Has "multiculturalism" failed as a policy? What does "rethinking" multiculturalism mean?
• What are the future challenges for Australia as a "multicultural" society?
This National Symposium, organized by academics and various government agencies, and faith, interfaith, multicultural and other civil society groups, hence sought to:
• provide a platform for dialogue and analysis about the recent conflicts and violence in Cronulla
• develop alternative discourses on and responses to multiculturalism, racism and identity in Australia;
• explore options for future directions, policies and social transformation in Australian society in the context of local, national and global realities.
Over 210 participants from throughout Australia and New Zealand attended the one-day Symposium to hear several speakers share their perspectives and also to engage in dialogue on the issues raised. The program (link to web page) included a Welcome to Country by Indigenous Elder Aunty Delmae Barton: a multi-faith prayer presented by Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Baha'i leaders; opening remarks by the Hon Chris Cummins MP, Qld Minister for Small Business, Information Technology Policy & Multicultural Affairs; Griffith University and University of the Sunshine Coast administrators; and four panels of speakers focusing on specific themes including (a) Cronulla-Understand ing the Conflict and Violence; (b) Government Responses; (c) Racism and Multicultural ism; and (d) Interfaith and Intercultural Perspectives and Initiatives. Based on the views and analyses contributed, a number of implications and recommendations for policies and social practices in multicultural societies such as Australia can be drawn, and are listed in the concluding segment of this Symposium Report.
Grants to assist the MFC and CMCD in hosting the event were provided by the Qld Dept of the Premier & Cabinet, Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, Griffith
University's Office of Community Partnership and School of Arts. Media and Culture, and the Interfaith Multicultural Forum, Brisbane. Other organizations supported the Symposium by sponsoring their representatives to attend as speakers, moderns or
delegates.
The key ideas, issues and perspectives raised in the welcome speeches and inoculations
of various panelists are highlighted in the following summaries.
Welcome Speeches
The Hon, Chris Cummins, MP, Queensland Minister for Small Business, Information
Technology Policy & Multicultural Affairs, recalled growing up as a young child in Penang, Malaysia and also living in Brixton in the United Kingdom. These experiences taught him the value of encountering diverse cultures and faiths, and it is such diversity, which contributes positively to the building of a multicultural Australia. In his words, "we are all in the same boat." Australians need to respect each other if we are to live together in a harmonious, cohesive society that rejects bigotry and extremism. All citizens and residents deserve equity and access to public services provided by government agencies. Minister Cummins also emphasized mat all Queensland Government departments are expected to design and implement policies and initiatives that promote multiculturalism. He noted in particular that 5750,000 has been committed to projects that enhance community engagement with the Islamic community. Also, he will shortly lead a delegation of Queensland MPs, government officials, and the Qld Police Services to visit Cronulla and learn ideas and lessons that may be helpful to prevent similar conflicts in Queensland. He concluded that Queenslanders need to be vigilant in order to ensure multicultural harmony.
Professor Sharon Bell, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Griffith University, noted that the Symposium reflects a positive sign of cooperation between universities and the Queensland government in engaging with diverse social, multi-faith and multi-cultural communities. In reflecting on the Cronulla conflict, she referred to the perspective of well-known social analyst Noam Chomsky that it is important to look at societal contexts and structures of authority rather than only individual motives. Hence, in her view, it is crucial to ask some critical questions that may lie behind what happened at Cronulla, including what gives license to such violent behavior or counter-responses and what are the profound and powerful social forces at work? For example, in Australia, has the language of war and violence affected younger generations? What may be the effect of labeling a whole community as "evil" or a "threat?" Most importantly, in her view, is there a future for Australia that does not embrace multiculturalism? Professor Bell also expressed her hope that the Symposium would focus not just on the negative aspects of the conflict, but rather on the positive lessons that can be learned.
Narayan Gopalkrishnan, Director, Centre for Multicultural & Community Development, University of the Sunshine Coast, began his welcome remarks with the metaphor of a pine tree plantation in Queensland, which reflects a loss of biodiversity in contrast to a rain forest, which retains its biodiversity and sustainability. Likewise, Australian society is sustainable when cultural diversity is enhanced. In his view, the Symposium is a very relevant follow-up to the International Conference hosted by his Centre in early Dec 2005, focusing on the theme of Racisms and the New World Order. He expressed concern over the SMS text messages urging violence and racist attacks on Lebanese and other peoples that preceded the Cronulla riots. While in India during the conflict, he noted that the media images of Cronulla focused on the incidents of violence. He hoped that the Symposium would examine the various issues raised in media representations, including whether racism is a causative factor; is there a "failure" of multiculturalism; are some cultural or ethnic groups not "integrating" into Australian society? In conclusion, he reminded delegates that Australia has been one of the leading nations promoting multiculturalism. In light of the Cronulla conflict, and ongoing views, responses and policy changes, Australia risks losing the gains that have been made.
Panel 1: Cronulla-Understanding the Conflict and Violence
[Moderated by Lindy Drew, Community Relations Project Officer, Local Government
Association of Queensland.]
Scott Pyonting, Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Languages, University of Western Sydney, presented his analysis of the causes, which underpinned the conflict and violence in Cronulla. He emphasized the central role played by racism and racial hatred in the violent attack of a dominant ethnic and cultural group on a minority, especially the "Lebanese" community, and in general "Middle Eastern" or "Muslims." In this regard, the media had played a negative role in further fuelling attitudes of "revenge" and violence towards these identified minority groups. Apart from publicizing SMS text messages calling for the "killing" of "Lebanese" people, or for "revenge," the media has also helped to reinforce stereotypes of "Middle Eastern" or "Lebanese" men as violent, harassing white women, or engaging in "unruly behavior" on the beaches. In trying to understand what happened at Cronulla, Dr. Pyonting argued that the wider societal realities must be taken into account. In particular, in the post 9/11 era, Australian state policies, including the response to asylum seekers and "ethnically targeted" anti-terror legislation, have helped to demonize the Middle Eastern/Muslim "other" as "enemies." In turn, these policies have provided right-wing groups a kind of "permission to hate" and a "moral license" to pursue violent, racial attacks. Both state government and opposition politicians, and populist media have also contributed to the racialization of crime targeting especially "ethnic gangs" of "Muslim" or "Middle Eastern" youth, leading to "get tough" tactics. This has contributed to "fuelling and even actual incitement of racist hatred." He concluded by reminding delegates that multiculturalism has been a success in Australia for many years, helping to overcome potential conflicts among diverse groups.
Keysar Trad, founder of the Sydney-based Islamic Friendship Association of Australia and a Trustee of the Australian Islamic Educational Trust, emphasized that stereotypes and territorial ism dictated the attitude of Anglo beach-goers to their non-Anglo guests, There was little or no tolerance exercised towards non-whites (e.g., their soccer games on the sand were seen as a cultural invasion and not respected as a human right). Consequently, "ethnic" youth felt safe only if they are in groups, in many Anglo dominated public recreational spaces. This was in contrast to other places like Maroubra where the local beach youths formed the "Bra" group encompassing diverse ethnic backgrounds and faith traditions. This showed that multiculturalism can transcend "racial tribalism." However, in Cronulla, a dynamic emerged in which ethnic youth forming groups for protection in turn increased the "fears" of Anglo-Saxon people, which fueled more racism and intolerance. These long-standing conflicts and animosities between whites and ethnic groups were not, however, the direct cause of the rioting. Rather, Keysar Trad emphasized that sections of the media, including talkback radio, incited fears against "Lebanese" and other ethnic youth, and by omission or commission, even acts of racist violence, which was also urged via SMS messages. As a result, some marginalized ethnic youth also lashed back violently and criminally despite being advised by community elders to respond peacefully. In Mr. Trad's view, a lack of sufficient political leadership and denial among government leaders of the realities of racism, Islamophia and xenophobia also failed to prevent the potential conflict. In his view, New South Wales anti-discriminatory, community relations or police agencies needed more power to assertively implement laws against such discrimination. Finally, he appealed for more resources channeled to the youth sector, regardless of ethnicity, to ensure a fair share of opportunities and facilities.
Graeme Cole, Public Affairs Manager, Wesley Mission, Sydney, experienced journalist,
and a long-time resident and former youth worker in Sutherland, reminded delegates that Cronulla has experienced deep seated social problems, including conflict, violence and "gang" behavior on the beaches over four decades. He identified one of these problems as the over-consumption of alcohol by youth, which is also prevalent throughout Australian society, promoting a "culture of booze" with no sense of responsibility. The racism and violence that occurred at Cronulla was shocking and must be condemned, though a minority perpetrated this, in his view. Mr. Cole agreed with previous speakers on the impact of world political events, such as the Bali bombing that had killed six Sutherland residents and created attitudes of fear of groups stereotyped as potential enemies. However, he also recounted the post-riots efforts at reconciliation by Christians in the local community. Surfers also offered public apologies to members of the Lebanese community in a spirit of building friendship and trust. He concluded that the question of "identity" of Australians, especially that of popular culture of the youth rooted in the triumph of individualism and a lack of sense of the future, is at the core of the Cronulla conflict and needs to be transformed.
Jock Collins, Professor of Economics, Faculty of Business, University of Technology Sydney, focused on the racialization of crime and law and order issues that has been promoted by governments as well as by media. In his analysis, the over-exaggerated and media-sensationalized association of crime and "gangs" with certain ethnic groups, especially of "Middle Eastern" background, in Sydney, has contributed to a feeling of marginalization and racialized bias among immigrant youth, who, as Australians, are demanding their rights. Moreover, he reminded delegates that peoples from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds are capable of wrongful conduct. He also pointed out that Cronulla, as a locality, is predominantly "white" in a city, which is the 7th greatest immigrant city in the world. The use of Cronulla beaches had become a "territorial" issue, even though Cronulla constituted a recreational area for all. Prof. Collins also referred to the wider context of the "war on terrorism," which had "unfairly" linked "Middle Eastern" or "Muslim" peoples with terrorist activities. He lauded the NSW Government's assertive actions to control and prevent an escalation of the violence. In his view, the Cronulla riots constituted a "wake-up" call, requiring effective management and leadership efforts. The "moral panic" induced by the media also needs to be challenged. He concluded with a call for social cohesion, which must be maintained and managed, otherwise Australian society will suffer. Multiculturalism is a solution to, rather than a cause of, the problems that occurred at Cronulla.
Kevin Clements, Professor of Peace & Conflict Studies and Foundation Director, The Australian Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies, University of Queensland, stressed that powerful dynamics related to racism, sexism and class inequalities must be recognized in trying to understand the conflict at Cronulla. He stated that "everyone" is, in the end responsible for Cronulla. He asks, "In what ways have we encouraged or discouraged racism?" If, for example, the hatred perpetuated in talk-back radio is not denounced, then we are also responsible for the problem. Prof. Clements pointed out that, especially in the post-9/11 era, state systems have responded with policies of violence, pre-emptive strikes and militarization, which have helped to fuel micro-level violent behavior and given "legitimacy to the use force, power, coercion and militarism in advancing political and social objectives." The massive expenditures on armaments, in contrast with a significantly lesser amount of international aid, have not created real security for the world. Furthermore, globalization was wrongly assumed to bring everyone together to in harmony; instead it has created "discontent and confusion between different socio-cultural groups," in part due to a lack of mechanisms for promoting greater intercultural understanding and sensitivity. Norms for non-violence and conflict resolution are subverted by these global dynamics. In his view, many of the marginalised youth in Cronulla were seeking to defend a system that favours male, white Anglo-Saxon Australians and professionals, and argues for the superiority of Judeo-Christian values. He called on those who are "prime beneficiaries of such systems to add our voice in protest against those who engaged in violent behaviour" or "those who pedal hatred on radio," otherwise "our silence are providing tacit consent to that behaviour." Prof. Clements also reminded us of issues on both sides: the white youths' fear, frustration and alienation in a rapidly changing world, while the Lebanese and Middle Eastern community did not feel fully accepted in mainstream Australia due to the "war on terror," attitudes towards Islam, and unease with the "Australian lifestyle." In his analysis, Prof. Clements argued that multicultural societies like Australia need to establish the norms for living together that would overcome racism and class divisions, and promote civilized dialogue.
In the open forum following the panel presentation on the first theme in the program, the following additional points were noted:
• Governments and politicians need to take more decisive action to stop and prosecute any person who engages in promoting racism and hatred, including media representatives.
• The targeting of a specific cultural group is not new in Australian history, as demonstrated by the racism and violence experienced by indigenous peoples.
• The long-standing tensions at Cronulla beaches over a number of decades have not been resolved effectively by political leaders, leaving the media to negatively and inadequately cover the news.
• An active rather than passive citizenship should be promoted to resist hate mongering; to express solidarity with peoples subjected to racist attacks; and to cooperate with the police services in creating a nonviolent social order.
Panel 2: Government Responses
[Moderated by David Ip, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, University of
Queensland.]
Andrew Bartlett, Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats and Senator for Queensland, emphasized that his party strongly advocates multiculturalism as !ithe best chance for Australia to have a secure, safe and prosperous future." In his view, the Symposium is not only timely, with its focus on Cronulla, but also because recent comments by the Prime Minister as well as various government politicians "singled out" Australian Muslims again. Senator Bartlett refereed to his postcard campaign using the slogan "Strength in Diversity" to promote multiculturalism. He expressed concern that although all political parties in Parliament officially support multiculturalism, it has been "mainly lip service." Hence, public defense for and promotion of multiculturalism is strongly needed. Senator Bartlett argued that the motive of economic self-interest should be used (e.g., export opportunities are enhanced by effective multiculturalism; anti-Muslim hysteria can discourage full-fee paying overseas students). He also called for politicians and community leaders to "more openly promote and sell the benefits of migration." Moreover, people not from the dominant Anglo-Celtic background should be supported in speaking out when they are targeted and attacked. The Senator affirmed the faith-based value of responding to hate and fear with goodness, rather than with aggression and hate. Citizens should not stay silent when political leaders engage in fear-mongering and demonizing. He also reminded participants of the necessity of learning the truth about Australian history, which included racism and unjust acts against indigenous peoples. In his conclusion, the Senator noted that racist views will prevail unless people challenge them, and promote a positive alternative view encompassed by multicultural ism.
i Tom Calma, Aboriginal & Torres Straits Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), noted that local, state, and national contexts and factors need to be taken into account in understanding the Cronulla riots. He reported that the HREOC staff had attended community meetings in the Bankstown and Sutherland areas after the conflicts, and heard, for example, about the efforts of local councilors to bring peoples of diverse backgrounds together. One factor, in his view, is that although the Sutherland Shire is predominantly Anglo-Celtic in ethnic profile, there have been few mechanisms to build bridges between the Anglo-Celtic and other ethnic communities. He affirmed that communities from outside should be welcomed to use Cronulla beaches. However, Lebanese youth also need to manage their needs and behavior. Such conflicts at the beaches, despite being decades old, now have to be urgently resolved. In his view, lifeguards and police personnel need to be capable of dealing with issues such as racism and sexual harassment before they escalate into direct violence. Governments too could have heeded more the warnings found in the HREOC report on the rise of discrimination and racism against Muslims and Arabic members of Australian society. He noted that senior political leaders stayed "silent" while some media outlets were stereotyping Muslims and Arabs and promoting hatred towards them. Hence, there is a major need for multicultural education of children and youth which encourages respect of others as well as nonviolence. He reported on examples of federally funded projects such as working with Muslim women subjected to discrimination, and working with the Muslim community on law enforcement measures.
Stephan Kerkyasharian, AM, Chairman, Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW and President, Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW, focused on the need to look at what happened at Cronulla in an objective way to ensure that this kind of incident is not repeated. He acknowledged that some ethnic communities (e.g., Lebanese) have been targets of discrimination, and that extremist right-wing racist groups have instigated the violence. He noted that Arabic speaking staff of the CRC have been collecting data on experiences of those communities, including the marginalization and social isolation of the youth, and their proposals for government policies. An additional factor lies in parent-child relationships, though privacy requirements limit collecting information from the parents of the youth. However, Mr. Kerkyasharian also emphasized that some Cronulla residents did not see the Cronulla conflict in terms of "racism," but rather as a protest over how the beaches are being used by outsiders. In his view, the use of public spaces, including beaches, have often neglected youth-oriented activities. He also referred to the lack of community understanding of different faiths. Hence, it is valuable to promote interfaith dialogue conferences in which faith representatives try to find common ground and to accept differences.
Steve Maquire, Executive Director, Multicultural Affairs Queensland, informed delegates about the Queensland Government policies to promote multiculturalism and to strengthen social cohesion and harmony. Government leaders have continually expressed commitment to multicultural ism, allocated resources for projects, and implemented legislation against racism and religious vilification. Recently, the Premier, Government Ministers and Police Commissioner met with 40 ethnic community leaders to strengthen community relations. He noted that the directors of Queensland government departments and agencies are required to implement the Government's multicultural policy in their respective programs. Major activities include engaging with communities via local multicultural liaison workers; an annual multicultural festival and photographic awards; a Confronting Racism in the Community project; youth and school interfaith dialogue projects; and many other initiatives funded by an annual grants scheme (e.g., enhancing respect for and capacities of indigenous communities; promoting cultural diversity via police clubs; welcoming refugees to Queensland; interfaith soccer clubs; multi-faith trivia quiz). A current major MAQ-coordinated initiative focuses on community engagement with the Islamic community, encompassing community-based projects, Muslim youth workers, conferences and a media relations strategy. In conclusion, Mr. Maguire emphasized the importance of communities truly living and interacting with each other in order to break down an "us and them" mentality. While acknowledging that the Government is keen to learn lessons from the Cronulla situation, he felt that what Queensland has developed in its multiculturalism policy is "on the right track."
Genevieve Soillac, Centre for Peace Studies & Dept. of French Studies, University of Sydney, presented a principled view of multicultural citizenship for Australia based on the universal values of respect, social solidarity, and human rights. In drawing comparisons between the October 2005 riots in France and the Cronulla violence, Dr. Soillac identified three key areas of difference related to conceptions of identity, exclusion and belonging, and the modeling of citizenship. Unlike the factor on inter-ethnic conflict in Cronulla, the French case was primarily a protest by "disadvantaged and marginalized second generation young people of various ethnic origins" living in the housing estates. In her analysis, the riots were acknowledged as a failure of the French Republican system to deliver on its founding universal values of liberty, social justice, solidarity, equality, generosity and human rights underpinning French identity and citizenship. Hence after the riots, government policies were implemented to promote active or participatory citizenship (e.g., a tutoring program to assist those "failing" high school students from the housing estates; French leaders appealing to non-migrant citizens to actively practice non-discrimination.). In her conclusion. Dr. Soillac argued for the concept of "multicultural citizenship" to complement the multicultural framework of Australian national identity, and provide a genuinely political identity for all Australians based on universal human rights, peace and non-violence. This is preferable to "a culturally-based concept of national identity" which can dilute a sense of''belonging" and even be "divisive" (cf. Cronulla).
In the open forum following the panel presentation on the second theme in the program, the following additional points were noted:
The social isolation of the youth of some ethnic communities, as well as high rates of
unemployment, need to be considered as an important factor in analyzing the
Cronulla and potential other sites of conflict.
There is a need for changes in societal structures to build inclusive norms that enable
indigenous Australians to feel they are "Australian."
The history of oppression of indigenous peoples in the formation of Australian
nationhood needs to be acknowledged, while also noting normative progress towards
recognizing "universal norms."
There should be more dialogue between faiths/religions and "secular" society on all
issues that bind humanity together.
While faiths/religions deserve to be recognized as part of the international "heritage,"
faith leaders and institutions also need to avoid being "hijacked" leading to conflicts
and even violence.
The HREOC has recommended to the Federal Government that religious vilification
should also be included in human rights legislation.
The Australian Broadcasting Authority should inform Australians of Muslim and
Arab background about the strategy of monitoring and working with media to
overcome religious vilification.
Police multicultural advisory units need to look into ways to empower police
personnel to deal with racial discrimination.
Panel 3: Racism and Multiculturalism
[Moderator: Dr. Kevin Dunn, Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of New South Wales.]
Hurriyet
Babacan, Associate Director, Centre for Multicultural & Community
Development and Acting Head, School of Social & Community
Studies, University of the Sunshine Coast, began by arguing that
instead of asking "has multiculturalism failed," it is more
appropriate to ask "have we as a nation failed
multiculturalism?" In her view, Australia has been a successful
exemplar of multiculturalism, which has given the nation's
"resilience and strength of character." Dr. Babacan
contrasted right-wing criticisms of multiculturalism (e.g., it
undermines social cohesion and "Australian" identity;
panders to ethnic minorities; advocates "political correctness,"
overloads social services, etc.) with left-wing criticisms (e.g., it
ignores issues of power, class and gender; assumes that culture is
static; co-opts people and encourages an ethnic elite, etc). She
analyzes recent statements by political leaders accusing segments of
one ethnic group (Muslims) as "antagonistic" to Australian
values, as a form of "disguised assimilationism." In Dr.
Babacan's view, it is essential to ask "who decides" what
ought to be the national 'core values?" She cited Prof. Ghasan
Haige's conception of multiculturalism as a community which creates
spaces for different communities to grow at their own pace while
being enriched via interaction, and to create a new "consensual
culture" which recognizes and respects their own identities. She
criticized the "silent denial" of racism , which is often
correlated with social and economic exclusion. Official policies and
discourses have also accentuated a culture of fear (e.g., insecurity
and terrorism) and a "worrying" nation that is less
compassionate and caring. In concluding,Dr. Babacan identified some
challenges: the need to defend multiculturalism
vigorously;!
separating multiculturalism from issues of immigration; clarifying issues of identity such
as who is an Australian and the position of indigenous peoples; dealing with the "hard"
issues of racism and social exclusion; and promoting a multiculturalism based on anti- •
racism, human rights, and social justice. , •••
Danny Ben-Moshe, Associate Professor and Director, Institute for Community Engagement & Policy Alternatives (ICEPA), Victoria University, presented an analysis of the presence and role of "far-right" groups existing in Australia. Such groups (e.g., Australia First Party and Patriotic Youth League (PYL)) involve a small minority in numbers, and are less of a problem to multiculturalism than for example, media personalities who encourage racism and should be subject to existing and-discrimination legislation. In Prof. Ben-Moshe's view, these far-right groups are "ideological racists" who seek to exploit situations of public discontent and crisis and lead them toward racism. He also reminded delegates that the "far right" is not homogenous in all issues, though it is based on a "white supremacist Christian" identity. These groups share a number of key ideas, including a sense of Australian economic "nationalism," a resistance of "new world order politics," a conspiratorial view of "liberal global capitalism" collaborating with a "Jewish"-controlled United Nations, a belief that Australia is losing its national identity and independence; and criticisms of uncontrolled immigration, multiculturalism, and "liberal" views on homosexuality. With these ideological beliefs, the far-right groups therefore sought to foment the ethnic and social tensions that occurred in crises like Cronulla. However, Prof. Ben-Moshe pointed out that the efforts of Australia First and the PYL failed to generate Cronulla-type conflicts elsewhere in Australia by mobilizing the "discontent." While this is a positive sign of the contribution of multiculturalism to Australian society, he stressed the need for Australians to be vigilant and to monitor such groups and respond effectively to them, including finding ways to talk to forces that stand for anti-multiculturalism.
Greg Noble, Acting Director, Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, reported on some key insights, from his research study on younger Australians' public attitudes toward multiculturalism. He acknowledged that while multiculturalism is perceived as helping people to learn from each other, youth as a group feels a significant "lack of control" over their future, as well as incomplete acceptance by the rest of society. In regards to the issue of "identity," Dr. Noble noted that the youth display an openness to interpersonal relations, whereby they become a part of "mainstream" Australia. He cautioned against a "moralizing" discourse on multiculturalism expressed in terms of "good and bad," "right and wrong." His study did reveal experiences of racism and discrimination, though for many, this was managed in practical terms (like "getting along," and tolerance). Moreover, the youth reflected multiple "belonging" and identities in cultural, religious, social and other dimensions. They develop intercultural relationships, which broaden their lives. Dr. Noble argues against "cultural fetishism," a tendency to see others in terms of single cultural identity, which can encourage exclusion. In his conclusion, in analyzing Cronulla, he argues for a position of "ambivalence" that takes into account both the complexities of multiculturalism and of racism. Being critical of multiculturalism does not necessarily mean rejection of its positive aspects and practices, while endorsement of multicultural!sm does not mean a lack of affirmation of core Australian values. Multiculturalism is not a failure but is an "unfinished business" that needs to be understood in its complexities in order to build an inclusive Australian society.
William Gates, Associate Professor & Director of Nulloo Yambah, Central Queensland University's Indigenous Centre of Learning, Spirituality & Research Centre, began by clarifying that most indigenous peoples do not like the "ethnic" label or being positioned by multicultural ism policies, since they are different and did not arrive in Australia from elsewhere. He noted that while Central Queensland has a very well attended multicultural fair, and the university supports reconciliation and multiculturalism, there is a prevailing attitude of racism in the wider community. Racist slogans have been plastered on his Centre, vehicles open display racist slogans, and an African was rnis-targeted as an Aboriginal in a drive-by shooting. Prof. Gates emphasized that the lived experiences and relationships of indigenous peoples are found in their daily lives - in families, communities, universities, schools, workplaces and shared public spaces (like beaches). He questioned how effective the anti-racist policies and laws of governments as deterrents to racism. In his view, ''top-down approaches give a false sense of harmony and a veneer of uniformity and conformity." He advises against the suppression of discussion of racism in universities, and recommends engagement with those with racist views, who need to be invited to attend anti-racist professional development training. Cultural awareness days do not necessarily address racism, and "whole family, whole school and whole community" approach is vital. In his conclusion, Prof. Gates called for educating people to be responsible custodians of the land, and to love and share the land in their hearts in cooperation with indigenous peoples. He argued that citizenship education can only go so far, What is needed is a holistic approach to living, to be "caretakers" of this country, to overcome violence, and to be peacemakers with people, other creatures and the land.
In the open forum following the panel presentation on the third theme in the program, the following additional points were noted:
• Multiculturalism as a policy still needs to be more fully understood by politicians, teachers, media or faith leaders, and Cronulla needs to be acknowledged as a "wake-up call" by Australians.
• Refugees as a group have experienced considerable discrimination. Opportunities should be increased to provide them with literacy, and governments should enhance the promotion of their human rights.
• If the economic situation deteriorates or other crises (e.g., war) occur, the "far right" will take the opportunity to exploit feelings and fears among the wider population.
• While governments have official policies for promoting multiculturalism, it remains a "soft" area and community education programs remain under-funded.
• What strategies are needed to seek out and engage racists, "terrorists" and extremists in dialogue?
Panel 4: Interfaith and Intel-cultural Perspectives [Moderated by Mary Gavin, Director, Always People]
Gary Bourna, Professor of Sociology, UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Relations (Asia-Pacific) and Head, School of Social & Political Inquiry, Monash University, emphasized that the Cronulla riots, while displaying racial overtones, were not primarily about religion, ethnicity, or race. Rather, such thuggery had been prevalent on the beaches for half a century as the participants displayed 'the deep Australian macho values of drinking beer, chasing women, and enjoying beaches/1 Prof. Bouma noted that white supremacist groups fueled the initial causes, while both religion and culture did not last long as causative factors. He also challenged the view that religion (especially Islam) and multiculturalism cannot work together. Like other religions, he is confident that Islam can and will be integrated in Australian society. He points to several signs of hope, which affirm the success of multi-cultural and multi-faith policies. For example, protests against -the Prophet Muhammad cartoons were non-violent and conducted with respect towards Australian law, institutions and fellow citizens. Monash University recently conducted induction sessions for clergy, new to Australia, to help them understand and help build a socially cohesive multicultural and multi-faith society. Prof. Bouma also reported on several initiatives to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding via dinners, multi-faith gatherings, conferences, international networking and City Councils' interfaith kits and booklets informing citizens about various faiths in their localities, and how they are building social cohesion in the community. He also referred to proposals for education and schooling to help overcome ignorance and misunderstanding of religions. In his conclusion, Prof. Bouma noted that, in contrast to countries, which have experienced difficulties or failure in "enforced secularism," Australia has, through its multicultural policies, provided a context enabling religious groups to live together in productive harmony.
Jeremy Jones, AM, Past President, Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and Director of International and Community Affairs, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, began by sharing some personal experiences, which, in his view, demonstrated that many Australians embrace a "feeling of unity" across diverse cultures, faiths and classes. For example, at a recent World Cup preliminary match, Australians who are Muslims, Jews and other cultural background "united" to celebrate Australia's victory. He also noted that during the Sydney's Multicultural Eid Festival and Fair, Christian and Jewish representatives joined in the welcome address and while some Muslim speakers expressed concern over aspects of government policy, all participants affirmed the success of multiculturalism. Mr. Jones pointed out that extreme racist far-right fringe groups could only mobilize a small number of people to join the Cronulla riots. Nevertheless, vigilance is needed to ensure that the far-right groups do not succeed in bringing their racist agenda into the mainstream by manipulating the concerns of individuals over some issues. Mr. Jones called on Symposium delegates to consider using available federal, state and territory legislation against racism and/or religious vilification. He further emphasized the "very real need for people of faith to be pro-active in healing, in comforting and in displaying, very publicly, compassion and articulating a vision of a multicultural, harmonious Australia." Religions have a significant role to play in helping to overcome Cronulla-related conflicts. This was demonstrated when he joined Muslim community leaders for Friday in prayers at the Auburn mosque followed by a multi-faith walk of solidarity to the site of a Uniting Church Hall destroyed by fire soon after the violence. Mr. Jones concluded by stressing that religious communities need to avoid their religions "being used, co-opted or hijacked by people pursuing narrow, partisan political agendas." This also requires that religious communities take moral and principled stance, not tied to specific political ideologies or parties. He urged people of religion to speak out publicly against those extremists who use religion as a destructive force; to help those in distress; to befriend the alienated; help those who felt shameful after Cronulla "deal with their shame and direct them towards a means of contrition."
Jamila Hussain, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology and member, Muslim Women's National Network of Australia and Women's Interfaith Network, reiterated the observation that since Tampa and 9/11, Muslims in Australia have become a public object of " hate." Some politicians and right-wing media commentators have blamed Muslims for "not fitting in," "failing to assimilate" and suspected them of "supporting and planning terrorism." She emphasized that Muslim women, due to their identifiable apparel, have especially been subjected to this antipathy, suffering insults, assaults and vilification. Ignorance has also resulted in non-Muslim women being mistakenly targeted. Conseqently, some Muslim women are unwilling to leave their homes, shopping only in pairs or accompanied by a male relative or discarding the hijab. However, she noted that many women have continued to wear their hijab, "refusing to compromise their beliefs and give way to intimidation." Furthermore despite this climate of fear, Muslim women's groups and women of other faiths are continuing to cooperate in promoting tolerance and mutual understanding. For example, the Muslim Women's National Network of Australia (MWNNA) recently held an interfaith conference in which Muslim women reported on their organization's activities (e.g., aged care and other welfare work, migrant resettlement, youth activities, interfaith dialogue, school visits to talks to church groups, mosque open days, mutual help activities and "food and friendship" functions). In her view, developing personal relationships has been very important in reducing fear and tensions in the community, showing that people everywhere have similar aspirations despite cultural and lifestyle diversity. In 1999, there was the successful establishment of the Women's Interfaith Network (WIN), which now meets monthly to encourage mutual understanding and promote peace among many different religious traditions and indigenous women. Ms. Hussain stressed that interfaith dialogue is most effective when it "interfaith in action, each individual doing what he or she can to form friendships and build bridges with others."
Toh Swee-Hin (S.H. Teh), Professor & Director, Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University and Laureate, UNESCO Prize for Peace Education 2000, initially referred to exemplars of interfaith dialogue in the war-torn island of Mindanao in the Philippines. He emphasized that these conflicts are not caused by faith or religion per se, but rather stem from the marginalisation of Muslims who then struggle to gain self-determination and justice from Christian-dominated systems. However, there are inspiring models of faith leaders and organizations bringing Muslims and Christians together to overcome centuries of fear, distrust and hatred, to increase understanding and respect, and to cooperate in solidarity projects meeting the needs and dignity of all. He was inspired by Muslim and Christian youth cooperating to help refugees, and through acting together, they were able to understand each other's faiths more deeply and find a common ground of shared values. This example has relevance for building and healing relationships in communities like Cronulla and Bankstown. In regard to indigenous peoples, Prof. Toh highlighted their marginalization from colonial and current globalization policies of unequal development. In his view, peoples of faith need to go beyond talking and understanding toward solidarity actions to overcome injustices and unsustainability. More generally, Prof, Toh argues that everyone needs to question if he/she may also be complicit in racist, unjust and unsustainable structures and to peacefully transform those structures locally and globally (e.g.,.institutionalized racism, unfair trade, power of transnational corporations, militarization, human rights violations, etc.). Moreover, faiths should help to move people to challenge the ideology of over-consumerism and re-think the meaning of "happiness," which has been entrapped in consumerism, power and self-centredness. All faiths also need to promote education for active nonviolence among their followers, so that conflicts, like those that emerged in Cronulla, may not escalate easily into a cycle of violence and counter-violence, but rather move toward constructive resolution and reconciliation. Finally, interfaith dialogue needs to be accompanied by intra-faith dialogue, whereby faith members are willing to critically review their own beliefs and practices for consistency with the values and principles of a culture of peace.
In the open forum following the panel presentation on the fourth theme in the program, the following additional points were noted:
• The voices of women in the Cronulla conflict and violence need to be better heard and included in discussions on what happened at Cronulla and efforts to resolve the conflict.
• Electronic media is also now a major a source of ideas on racism and violence and need to be centrally considered in education for building a culture of peace.
• While IT can be helpful in promoting global dialogue and networking among marginalized groups including women, the internet with its innumerable sources of "information" and spaces for exclusive groups to form, can also be a barrier to broader social dialogue.
• Since interfaith dialogue initiatives usually attract those with moderate attitudes and openness to learning from others, there is a need to bring people holding extremist views into these dialogues. However, it is most crucial to work with those who may not be committed yet to any position, and to convince them that respect and understanding is better than extremist views.
• Schools, as formal educational institutions, have a major responsibility in helping children and youth, who bring views and attitudes from their families and communities into the classroom, to process those views critically. Suppressing ideas that are, for example, racist will not necessarily transform those attitudes. Rather, learners need spaces for them to critically analyze their own perspectives and with teacher facilitation, become open to challenging those deeply held beliefs.
Sponsored by
Centre for Multicultural & Community Development, University of the Sunshine Coast
& Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University
& Queensland Government, Department of the Premier and Cabinet
in collaboration with
Affinity Inter cultural Foundation
Always People
APERO (Australian Partnership of Ethnic & Religious Organizations)
Australian Baha'i Community
Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Queensland
AFIC (Australian Federation of Islamic Councils)
Australian Islamic Educational Trust
Australian Multicultural Foundation
Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT
Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney
Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies, Australian National University
Centre for Multicultural Pastoral Care, Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney
Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam, University of Melbourne
Executive Council of Australian Jewry
FECCA (Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia)
Gumurrii Centre, Griffith University
Indigenous Education Leadership Institute
Initiatives for Change
Institute for Community Engagement and Policy Alternatives (ICEPA), Victoria University
Interfaith Multicultural Forum
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia
Local Government Association of Queensland
National Council of Churches in Australia
Nulloo Yumbah - Indigenous Learning, Spirituality & Research Centre, | http://ausfirst.alphalink.com.au/multiculti-dictators/summary.html |
" Life is long, if we know how to use it properly"
Longevity, by definition, is the great duration of an individual life. I believe the majority of people would agree longevity is a good and desirable thing. The key is, how to attain it? In today's fast paced world, where stress often dominates, and diseases such as obesity, cancer and diabetes have skyrocketed, how does one aspire to attain longevity? The most important elements for optimal health have been swept under the rug for the many people as the hustle and bustle of everyday life takes over.Technology has made things a bit easier for us, yet made us also a bit lazier and unhealthier. We no longer walk from point A to B, we no longer garden for our food, and many no longer even get up from their work desks for hours at a time. The same goes with our diet. In essence to "save time" we hit the local drive-thrus more times during the week than we should.
Health and diet play a major role in my life, I am well educated in both fields, yet I find myself doing this as well. There just is not enough time in the day! In addition, more and more people are suffering from sleep due to this highly stressful life we've created for our society. Vacations? Very few. Community involvement? Limited. Longevity? No, we are seeing quite the opposite here in the United States.
However, there are places on Earth that have mastered the art of living long and healthy. For example, the island of Ikaria on the coast of Greece is called "the island where people forget to die", because the proportion of 100-year-olds is the highest ever seen. They walk everywhere they need to go; garden, grow and harvest their own food; prepare their own wine, which they drink often by the way; physically knead their own bread, and stay involved in family and community life.
In Okinawa, Japan, the general trends are the same: plant based home grown or locally based diets, walkable communities, and what they call "maois". Maois is a committed social network that lasts a long time, sort of like a personal board of directors. When a child is born, his parents place him in one of these groupings where he makes lifelong friends to later drink saki with! Believe it or not, this gesture of community involvement has been known to add at least eight years onto life expectancy.
What do these top two countries of longevity have in common? Healthy diets, exercise regimens, and community involvement. They do not hop on the treadmill daily for 30 minutes, or hit an aerobics class, they have exercise intertwined in their lifestyles, every day, all day. Unfortunately, we do not have this luxury. Unless you pack it up and move to a community that lives this lifestyle, most likely, you are driving in your car to and fro, possibly having groceries delivered to you, and ordering pizza on Friday nights. Your social life is minimal, and you hardly even get to sit down to family meals anymore. Me, included. So, how can we change all this in our lives? How can we strive for longevity?
We have unlimited choices everyday that we can make towards our optimal health that will aid in a healthier longer life. The first step would be to get involved in a group that focuses on overall health. The Martial arts communities are known to acknowledge nutrition, conscious living, and of course, exercise and fitness. The schools themselves usually offer a family oriented atmosphere where growth in all categories is strived for and acknowledged accordingly. Of course, there are some forms of the martial arts that are primarily focused on self defense and or competition, more injuring the body then doing it good. But there are also other forms of the arts that aim for strength, flexibility, mental awareness and low impact cardiovascular health, more of an overall healthy lifestyle, and that's what we're looking for here.
Such forms include Tai Chi, Brazilian Ju Jistu and Aikido. They are all martial art forms that take the emphasis off of deteriorating hip and knee movements, or hard impact punches to the head, and body, and focus on more subtle exercises to get the blood flowing to all the right places. Although we may not live in a walkable community, such as Okinawa, we can still incorporate some of their longevity techniques into our lifestyle by participating in beneficial activities such as these martial arts.
Tai Chi
According to World Health Net, has been directly correlated to longevity. Research by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee of was conducted on over 61,000 middle-aged and elderly men in Shanghai, China. Their health and lifestyle were tracked for five years. 22,000 of the participants reported that they exercised at least once a week. Taking into consideration factors such as the men's age, health conditions, and whether they were smokers, exercise was found to be tied to a 20% lower likelihood of dying. The study showed that of the 10,000 men who practiced tai chi, 20% less likely to die than men who didn't exercise. In addition, the research indicated that men who walked regularly were 23% less likely to die during the study, and men who jogged were 27% less likely to die. In conclusion, the study revealed that walking and jogging, like practicing Tai Chi were indeed associated with reduced mortality.
Medical research has also shown that tai chi has proven to be beneficial for congestive heart failure, Parkinson's disease, fibromyalgia and chronic pain, depression and anxiety. Some research also indicates that the practice of tai chi can enhance the immune system , and is beneficial for increasing joints movement in people suffering with severe osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
BJJ is known to be more than just a sport, but an overall lifestyle. That is what we are looking for in terms of a martial art for longevity. Yes, students gain overall strength and stamina, but what you can't see going on is really what the Brazilian jiu jitsu lifestyle is about. It's taking the lessons learned on the mat and applying them to your everyday life. Using patience in learning techniques, stress relief in the cardio, and the internal benefits such as lower cholesterol, more flexibility and mobility and weight loss. All important factors in health and overall longevity.
Aikido
Or the gentle martial art, focuses more on harmonizing with your opponent to bring peaceful resolutions to situations involving conflict. This Japanese art form is influenced by internal and meditative disciplines with an emphasis on internal and physical integrity. All martial arts are a form of training for self defense, yet Aikido, like a few others, aims to create a warrior that is not only a killing machine, but a model of courage and loyalty, as a means of promoting positive character, and disabling conflict before it even begins. Aikido ties together relationships, fitness and positive thinking, all aspects tied together for healthier living.
In Asia, it is very common for masters in the martial arts to live long, healthy lives.
In conclusion, one must be conscious about the kind of lifestyle they partake in to reach their optimal health and longevity. Incorporating a healthy diet, exercise and community are all important factors to consider. Be picky about what physical activity you allow in your life. Make it beneficial and not destructive in nature. With the limited time available in our live, choose something an activity and community that focuses on all areas of life, not just one. Choosing a martial art that complements your life could reward you trifold. | https://martialart.zone/iaido/iaido-articles/best-martial-arts-for-longevity |
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Many web pages provide content that covers a variety of subjects or topics. For example, a web page of a news website may include an article relating to the United Nations, an article relating to a presidential candidate, an article relating to a weather event (e.g., tornado), a link to an article relating to a company, an image of a traffic accident, and so on. The content of web pages may include text of an article, text and images of an article, standalone images, text of a title, text and images of an advertisement, text and images of a blog, images and image metadata of a photo storage website, video content, animated content, hyperlinks to other web pages, and so on.
Users who view web pages often are not interested in viewing content relating to certain subjects. For example, a fan of the football team of University X may not want to view articles relating to the rival football team of University Y. As another example, a parent may not want their young child to view articles or images relating to violent crimes.
Some websites allow a user to customize web pages by selecting subjects that are of interest to the user. For example, a news website may allow users to select the subjects of local news, national news, international news, business, weather, sports, health, science, technology, and so on. A user who selects local news and sports will be provided with web pages with content only relating to those subjects. Such web pages, however, still may present content that the user may not want to view, such as an article about the football team of University Y or about a recent violent crime.
Some browser extensions allow a user to exclude content from web pages based on keywords supplied by the user. For example, if a football fan specifies a keyword of “University Y,” then a browser extension may remove all articles that mention University Y. So, if the football fan was interested in scientific research being conducted at University Y, any article relating to that research that mentions University Y may be removed from the web pages displayed by the browser. Also, if an article on the football team of University Y referred to the team by the name of its mascot “turkey” and did not include the name University Y, then the browser extension would not remove that article and the football fan would be presented an article about the rival football team.
In some examples, a filter system for filtering out content of documents is provided. A filter client receives from a user a selection of content of a first document that the user wants to be obscured when the documents are displayed. The filter client sends to a filter server filter information that includes content information derived from the selected content. The filter client then receives from the filter server a filter generated from filter information sent from the client system and from other client systems of other users. The filter client then obscures content of a second document that matches the filter and then displays the second document.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
A method and system for filtering content of a web page is provided. In some examples, a filter system includes a filter client and a filter server. The filter client allows users to select content of web pages that users want filtered out. For example, a fan of the football team of University X may select from a currently displayed web page an article about the rival football team of University Y. The filter system filters out content of other web pages that are similar to the selected article. The filter client may request the users to provide a description or name, referred to as a “filter name,” for the type of content that is to be filtered out of web pages. For example, the fan may provide the name of University Y or the name of the university's mascot “turkey.” The filter client sends to the filter server filter information that includes the filter name if any and the filter information derived from the selected content. For example, the filter information may include content information and metadata information. The content information may include all the text and images of the selected content or may include a feature vector of selected features of the selected content such as keywords of the text, frequency of the keywords, and so on. The metadata information may include a uniform resource identifier (“URI”) of the web page, author name associated with the content, title of an article, and so on.
In some examples, upon receiving the filter information from the users, the filter server generates a filter designed to identify content of web pages that is similar to content selected by the users. For example, the filter server may generate a filter with the filter name of “University Y” based on all the filter information provided by users who named their filters “University Y.” As another example, the filter server may generate a filter based on filter information with the same or similar filter information (e.g., based on a similarity score) regardless of the names given to the filters by the various users. In such a case, the name of the filter may be ignored or treated as metadata information when generating the filter, but the filter name provided by each user would be used to identify the filter to that user. A filter may be represented as a feature vector of keywords and metadata information derived from the filter information that is based on content selected by the users. For example, the feature vector may include content features and metadata features. The metadata features may include a URI feature that represents types of websites or sections of websites on which the selected content was found such as sports, science, health, and so on. The content features may include keyword features such as the keyword “University Y” and the keyword “turkey.” Each of the features may also have an associated feature weight indicating importance of the feature to the filter. For example, the keyword feature for “turkey,” the mascot of University Y, may have a higher weight than the keyword feature for “University Y” if all the content selected by users for the “turkey” filter included the mascot name, but not all the content included “University Y.” The filter server then distributes the filter to the filter clients of users whose filter information was used to generate the filter.
In some examples, when a filter client receives a filter, it stores the filter for use when filtering content of web pages that match the filter. When a user retrieves a web page, the filter client applies the filter to the content of the web page. For example, the client may use the document object model (“DOM”) hierarchy of the web page to identify the individual content (e.g., articles, images, and blog postings). For each identified content, the filter client may create a feature vector. For example, the feature vector for an article may include the type of the web page, the keywords of the article, the author of the article, and so on. As another example, the feature vector for an image may include the URI of the image, a histogram of the image, keywords from a caption for the image, and so on. The filter client may generate a similarity score, for example, by applying a cosine similarity function to the filter feature vector and the content feature vector. If the filter includes weights for the features, the similarity score may be based on those weights. If the similarity score (e.g., between 0 and 1) exceeds a similarity threshold (e.g., 0.9), then the filter client marks the content to be filtered out when the web page is displayed.
In some examples, the filter client filters out content by obscuring the content in some way. For example, the filter client may obscure the content by replacing the content with blank content in the DOM hierarchy of the web page. As another example, the filter client may remove the content completely from the DOM hierarchy and reorganize the hierarchy so that a user would be unaware that the content was removed. As yet another example, the filter client may leave the content in the DOM hierarchy but distort the content in some way so that, for example, text or images are so distorted as to be unrecognizable.
Because the filter server generates a filter based on filter information received from multiple users, the filter may be able to filter out content that is similar to the content selected by a user but that contains very different keywords. In a sense, the filter system predicts what content a user wants to filter out based on content that other users want filtered out. For example, a user who selected content for the filter with the word “turkey” may have selected content that included the mascot name “turkey” and the word “football,” but did not include “University Y.” Other users may have selected content that included “University Y, but did not include the mascot name or the word “football.” The filter generated by the filter server, however, may include keywords such as “turkey,” “University Y,” “football,” “touchdown,” the football league name, and so on. As a result, content that does not mention University Y may be filtered out for a user even though a user only selected content that specifically mentioned University Y. In this way, the filter system leverages the filter information of many users to provide predictive filtering for users who use the same filter.
In some examples, the filter server may factor in the popularity of a web page that contains the content from which the filter information is derived when generating a filter. For example, if the web page is very popular, then the filter server may decide to regenerate an existing filter that relates to that content based on the content. If, however, the web page is not popular, then the filter server may decide not to regenerate the existing filter. In this way, the filter server can avoid having to regenerate filter based on content that the vast majority of users are unlikely to access because the content is on an unpopular web page. Eventually, if the filter server regenerates the existing filter, the filter server can then factor in the content of the unpopular web page.
The filter server may base the popularity of a web page on a web page ranking algorithm such as PageRank, which is based on the principle that web pages will have links to (i.e., “out links”) important web pages. The importance of a web page is based on the number and importance of other web pages that link to that web page (i.e., “in links”). PageRank is based on a random surfer model of visiting web pages of a web graph (vertices representing web pages and links representing hyperlinks) and represents the importance of a web page as the stationary probability of visiting that web page. In the random surfer model, a surfer visiting a current page will visit a next page by randomly selecting a link of the current web page or by randomly jumping to any web page. If the current web page has three out links to target web pages, then the transition probability of visiting each target web page from the current web page is ⅓ using a link of the current web page. The probability of jumping to any web page is typically set to equal the probability of jumping to any other web page. So, if there are n web pages, then the jumping probability is set to 1/n for each web page, referred to as a jumping vector. PageRank is thus based on a Markov random walk that only depends on the information (e.g., hyperlinks) of the current web page and the jumping probabilities.
In some examples, the filter server may apply various algorithms to identify additional matching content of web pages that are considered to match a filter. After generating a filter feature vector based on filter information, the filter server may search for web pages with content that matches the filter and augment the filter feature vector with unique content identifiers such as the uniform resource identifiers (“URI”) of the content. The filter server may use content collected by a web crawler to identify web pages, images, videos, and so on that match the filter. For example, if the filter relates to “University Y,” the filter server may identify web pages that include the name of the president of the university, images of the football stadium of the university, and videos of football games of the university and augment the filter with the URIs of the content. When a filter client filters a web page that includes a reference to one of the URIs, the filter client may disable and obscure that reference. For example, if the reference is a link to a web page, then the filter client may remove the link before displaying the web page. As another example, if the reference is to an image to be displayed as part of the web page, the filter client may suppress the retrieving of the images or obscure that image when displayed. Because the filter server would typically have much more computational power (e.g., provided by hundreds of computers) than an individual filter client, the filter server can identify additional content that could not practically be identified by a filter client. Thus, a filter client can efficiently filter some content based on the filter feature vector and the additional content based on the identified URIs. In addition, even if the filter information used to generate a filter is sparse, the augmenting of the URIs to provide more effective filter.
In some examples, the filter server may use semantic mapping techniques to identify the additional matching content. A semantic mapping technique may be based on a semantic data model, referred to as the Resource Description Framework (“RDF”), that has been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) to model web resources. For example, a semantic data model may indicate that “John Doe is employee of University Y,” that “John Doe is coach of football,” and that “www.imagerepository.org/image.jpg is image of John Doe.” In such a case, the filter server would identify as additional mapping content web pages that mention John Doe and the image referenced by www.imagerepository.org/image.jpg. The semantic mapping technique may identify that the image is of John Doe based on metadata associated with the image or content on web pages that include a reference to that image.
In some examples, the filter server may generate a rating or reputation for users based on implicit or explicit actions of other users. The filter server may track various interactions of users with the filter system such as each contribution of a user to a certain filter (e.g., new filter information to refine the filter exception information for the filter). If a user submits significant filter exception information for a filter, the filter server may take that as an indication that the filter did not accurately reflect what the user expected. In such a case, the filter server may give the users who submitted filter information for the filter (or the filter itself) a low rating from the point of view of that user. The filter system may also allow users to explicitly rate filters or users. For example, some users may give a low rating to a filter that filters out content relating to University Y because those users may only want to exclude content that criticizes University Y. As another example, the filter system may allow users to rate other users by displaying information describing filters to which a user contributed. The information may also include explanations of users as to why they contributed filter information to a filter. For example, a user may explain that content relating to house cats should be excluding from a filter relating to wild animals or from a filter relating to pets. The users can then rate that user based on whether they think the filters accurately filter content as represented by the user. For example, a user may have contributed information to exclude cats from a pet filter, which most users may find unreasonable. In contrast, most users may find the exclusion of cats from a wild animal filter to be reasonable. As such, that user may be given a high or low rating depending on the filter to which that user contributes. When generating a filter for a user, the filter server may weigh the contribution of users who are rated highly by the user more than the contribution of users who are not rated highly by the user.
The filter server may use collaborative filtering techniques to generate filters of users who exhibit similar rating profiles. A rating profile may be based on ratings users give to filters and to other users and on ratings other users give to them. For example, the filter server may generate cluster of users with similar rating profiles and then generate filters for each cluster based on filter information provided by the users in a cluster. In addition, the filter server may recommend to a user filters used by other users in the same cluster. The filter server may also use other factors when generating clusters of similar users such as political affiliation, religious affiliation, education level, age, citizenship, residency, and so on.
In some embodiments, the filter server may combine filters that are similar and provide users of those filters with the combined filters. For example, a group of users may use a filter relating to cats and another group of users may user a filter relating to feline. Originally, the cat filter may have related only to house cats, but over time the additional filter information submitted by users of the filter may have resulted in the exclusion of cats of all type. As such, the cat filter and the feline filter may have evolved to be very similar. In such a case, the filter server generates a combined filter to be used in place of the cat filter and feline filter.
In some examples, the filter system may allow a user to specify content that should have been filtered out or that should not have been filtered out. When a user views content that should have been filtered out by a filter, the filter client allows the user to select the content and the filter (e.g., by filter name) that the selected content should have matched. The filter client then sends to the filter server filter information that includes the filter name and content information derived from the selected content. The filter server can then use the filter information to modify the filter accordingly such as by changing the weight of certain features or modifying features.
The identification of content that should not have been filtered out is somewhat more difficult as the user cannot recognize content that has been obscured. To assist a user in identifying such content, the filter client may provide an unfiltered mode in which a web page is displayed without filtering or in which the filtered-out content is displayed in a separate window. If the content should not have been filtered out, the filter client allows the user to select the content and indicate that it should not have been filtered out. In response, the filter client sends to the filter server exception information that may include the filter name of the filter that caused the selected content to be filtered out and content information derived from the selected content that should not have been filtered out. The filter server can then use the filter information to modify the filter accordingly such as by changing the weight of certain features.
In some examples, the filter system may allow users to select filters to be downloaded and installed by their filter clients. For example, the filter system may provide a web page that provides a list of available filters and a description of each filter. The filters on the list may be generated based on content selected by multiple users or generated manually. For example, another football fan who wants to filter out articles on the University Y football team may select the filter name “turkey.” As another example, a company may want to prevent its employees of a product design team from viewing content about a competitor's product so that design team is not influence by the competitor's product. So, the company may manually create a filter to filter out the content relating to the competitor's product. The company could also select examples of content relating to the competitor's product so that the filter system will automatically generate a filter. In either case, the filter for the content can be included in the list for downloading and installing by the filter clients of employees on the design team. The company may also direct that the filter be automatically downloaded and installed on the company's computing devices to prevent employees on the design team from viewing the content.
The filter system solves various technical problems. For example, the filter system leverages the filter information collected from multiple users for the same filter to predict what content a user may want to filter out even though that content uses very different wording. As another example, the filter system offloads the generating of the filters to the filter server to take advantage of more computing power (e.g., provided by a data center of servers) than can be provided by a user's computing system. As another example, the filter server provides a mechanism for refining filters by providing additional filter information and/or exception information for a filter. As another example, the filter server provides for simplified selection of content that is to be filtered out or that should not have been filtered out.
FIGS. 1-7
FIG. 1
FIG. 2
FIG. 3
100
101
102
103
105
111
111
200
100
111
112
113
200
111
100
111
200
200
113
101
200
112
101
112
300
300
111
113
111
113
illustrate the filtering of content from web pages in some examples. The wavy lines in the figures represent text. illustrates a web page with content that can be selected for filtering out. A web page includes text content and and image content -. The web page also includes a filter icon , which may be added to a tool bar of a web browser. When the filter icon is selected, the filter client enters a content selection mode. illustrates a web page with content selected in content selection mode. A web page includes the same content as web page but also includes highlighted filter icon , a filter name input field , and a filter selection symbol . The web page is displayed after the user selects the filter icon of web page . The filter icon of web page is highlighted to indicate that it has been selected. The web page illustrates that the user then drew the filter selection symbol (e.g., “X”) over the text content to select the text content for the filter. The content may be selected in various ways such as by dragging the cursor over the content, drawing a circle around the text, and so on. The web page also indicates that the user entered a filter name in the filter name input field . In this example, since the text content was an article on the football team of University Y, the user entered the mascot's name in the filter name input field. illustrates a web page with filtered-out content. After the user entered the filter name into the filter name input field , the filter client sent the filter information that included the filter name and content information to the filter server and also obscured the selected content. A web page shows that the selected content has been obscured by removal and replacement with lines indicating that the content has been removed. The web page also includes the filter icon and a reveal icon . The user can select the filter icon for selecting additional content to be filtered out for the same filter or a different filter. When the user selects the reveal icon , the filter client displays any filtered-out content of the web page.
FIG. 4
FIG. 5
FIG. 6
FIG. 7
400
401
403
404
406
400
411
403
500
403
401
402
404
406
500
407
500
411
412
600
401
403
404
406
403
412
500
404
600
413
700
401
403
404
406
700
411
413
413
700
403
413
403
400
500
illustrates a web page with content that should not be filtered out. In this example, content relating to University X and University Y is filtered out because of the filter named “turkey,” but the user does not want any content relating to University X filtered out. A web page includes text content - and image content -. The web page also includes a filter icon . Text content is an article about University X and University Y. illustrates a web page with content filtered out that should not have been filtered out. A web page shows that text content was filtered out. In this case, the content was filtered out by removing the content from the web page and reorganizing the web page. The reorganized web page includes text content and and image content -. In addition, web page also includes new text content . The web page also displays the filter icon and a reveal icon . illustrates a web page with content that has been revealed. A web page includes text content - and image content -. The filtered-out text content is now revealed because of the user's selection of the reveal icon on the web page . Text content may also be highlighted to indicate that it is the content that has been revealed. The web page also includes an exception icon to allow a user to specify an exception to the filter. illustrates a web page with content selected that should not have been filtered out. A web page includes text content - and image content -. The web page also includes the filter icon and exception icon . The exception icon is highlighted to indicate that it has been selected. The web page also shows that a user has drawn a selection symbol for an exception over content to indicate that it is the content for the exception. Alternatively, the filter client may after a reveal and selection of the exception icon automatically select the revealed content without additional user interaction. After the user specifies the exception to the filter, the filter client sends exception information to the filter server. The filter server may then adjust the filter so that content is no longer filtered out. In such a case, when the web page is next accessed, web page would be displayed, rather than web page .
FIG. 8
810
820
830
840
810
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
is a block diagram that illustrates the filter system in some examples. The filter system includes a filter client and a filter server . As used herein, the term filter server refers to the combination of a server and server-side code of the filter system, and the term filter client refers to the combination of a client (e.g., device) and client-side code of the filter system. The filter client, filter server, and web servers are connected via a communication channel (e.g., the Internet). The filter client includes a filter add-on , a filter document component , an apply filter component , a receive filter request component , a receive exception request component , a manage filters component , and a filter storage . The filter add-on controls the overall filtering process and may be an add-on to a conventional web browser. The filter document component is invoked to filter a document such as a web page. The apply filter component is invoked by the filter document component for each of the filters installed on the filter client. The receive filter request component receives from a user the selection of content for a filter and sends the filter information to the filter server. The receive exception request component receives the selection of content that should be excluded from a filter and sends the exception information to the filter server. The manage filters component allows a user to select the filters to be installed, uninstalled, enabled, and disabled. The filter storage stores the filters that have been installed on the filter client.
820
821
822
823
824
825
850
851
852
853
854
855
The filter server includes a receive new filter request component , a receive filter contribution component , a generate filters component , a distribute filters component , a cluster users component , and a storage area . The storage area includes a filter storage , a web content storage , a multimedia content storage , a semantic map storage , and a filter usage storage . The receive new filter request component receives filter information from the filter client and stores the filter information in the user storage mapped to the user who provides the filter information. The receive new filter request component may generate a new filter or identify a similar existing filter. The receive filter contribution component receives additional filter information or exception information from the filter client and stores the information in the filter storage mapped to the user who provides the information. The generate filters component generates filters based on the filter information and the exception information of the filter storage, web content storage, multimedia content storage, semantic map storage, and filter usage storage. The filter system may regenerate filters, for example, on a periodic basis (e.g., daily) or when some other condition is satisfied (e.g., percentage change in the number of filters specified by users). The distribute filters component distributes filters of the filter storage to the filter client. The filter storage stores, for each user, filter information and exception information provided by that user and filters provided to the user. The web content storage and the multimedia content storage store information collected by a web crawler as it crawls the web. For example, the information may include URIs of content, keywords of content, metadata of content, and so on. The semantic map storage may contain semantic information in the form of triples consisting of a subject, predicate, and object as specified by RDF. The semantic map may be used to augment filters and exceptions to filters. For example, if content selected by a user includes the words “football,” “score,” and “turkey,” the semantic map may be used to identify “touchdown” as a score for football and may identify that a turkey is the mascot of the football team of University Y. The semantic map may also provide a categorization of a website and sub-website by mapping URIs of web pages to their categories (e.g., sports or news). The categories may be identified by a web crawler as it crawls the web. The filter server may include the category of a web page as a feature. The filter usage storage stores information describing users interactions with filters such filter rating, user ratings, and so on.
The computing systems on which the filter system may be implemented may include a central processing unit, input devices, output devices (e.g., display devices and speakers), storage devices (e.g., memory and disk drives), network interfaces, graphics processing units, accelerometers, cellular radio link interfaces, global positioning system devices, and so on. The input devices may include keyboards, pointing devices, touch screens, gesture recognition devices (e.g., for air gestures), head and eye tracking devices, microphones for voice recognition, and so on. The computing systems of filter clients may include desktop computers, laptops, tablets, e-readers, personal digital assistants, smartphones, gaming devices, servers, and so on. The computing systems of filter servers and filter clients may include servers of a data center, massively parallel systems, and so on. The computing systems may access computer-readable media that include computer-readable storage media and data transmission media. The storage media, including computer-readable storage media, are tangible storage means that do not include a transitory, propagating signal. Examples of computer-readable storage media include memory such as primary memory, cache memory, and secondary memory (e.g., DVD) and other storage. The computer-readable storage media may have recorded on them or may be encoded with computer-executable instructions or logic that implements the filter system. The data transmission media are used for transmitting data via transitory, propagating signals or carrier waves (e.g., electromagnetism) via a wired or wireless connection. The computing systems may include a secure cryptoprocessor as part of a central processing unit for generating and securely storing keys and for encrypting and decrypting data using the keys.
The filter system may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules and components, executed by one or more computers, processors, or other devices. Generally, program modules or components include routines, programs, objects, data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement particular data types. Typically, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various examples. Aspects of the filter system may be implemented in hardware using, for example, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
In some examples, the filter system may be implemented uses hundreds or thousands of filter servers. The filter servers may be implemented using a mapreduce programming model. With the mapreduce programming model, the storage of the contributions of user is distributed across the filter servers so that each filter server locally stores a subset of the contributions. To generate filters, each filter server may cluster its locally stored contributions (e.g., content feature vectors). Each filter server then provides a representative feature vector for each cluster to a filter server controller. The filter server controller then may cluster the representative feature vectors and assign each cluster to a filter server. The filter server controller then may instruct the filter servers to transfer their contributions to the filter servers based on the cluster assignment. Each filter server can then generate filters based on the contributions now locally stored at that filter server.
FIG. 9
910
920
910
911
911
912
913
920
921
921
922
923
a
b
a
b
illustrates information stored in the user filter storage for each user in some examples. A user may have requested various filters. For each filter requested by a user, the filter server stores a user filter that includes a filter feature vector and filter URIs and may store exception feature vectors and exception URI. The filter server augments the filters with filter URIs and exceptions with exception URIs. A filter feature vector for a filter is created based on filter information derived from content selected by the user for a filter. An exception feature vector for a filter is created based on exception information selected by the user for an exception to a filter. The feature vectors may include a filter name feature, URI feature, keyword features, metadata features, and so on derived from the content selected for the filter or the exception. User filters and are for the same user. The user filter is for the filter with the name “turkey” and includes a filter feature vector and filter URIs and exception feature vectors - for University X and University Y. The user filter is for the filter with the name “violent crime” and includes a filter feature vector and filter URIs and exception feature vectors - for a commission on violent crime and historical violent crimes.
Users who select very different content for a filter may use the same name for their filters. For example, a user who does not want to see content relating to the football team of University Y may name their filter “turkey,” which may be the university's mascot, while another user who is a vegan who does want to see content relating to turkey farming may also name their filter “turkey.” In some examples, the filter system may employ a clustering technique to cluster filters that appear to be directed to the same type of content using the filter feature vectors. The filter system may only cluster filters together that have the same name. In some examples, the filter system may consider the filter name as a feature that is only one of the many features used when clustering so that a cluster may be based on filters with different names. The filter server may track the users whose filter information contributed to each cluster. For example, the filter system may map users who provided filter information relating the football team to the “turkey” filter for the football team and map users who provided filter information relating turkey farming to the “turkey” filter for turkey farming. The filter server distributes the “turkey” filters to the users based on the mapping. If a user provided filter information related to both the football team and turkey farming, then the filter server may send both “turkey” filters to that user.
FIG. 10
1010
1011
1012
1013
1020
1021
1022
1023
illustrates different filters with the same filter name. In some examples, after the filters are clustered separately for each filter name, the filter server may also cluster the exceptions associated with each cluster. For example, the filter for the football team with the mascot “turkey” may have an exception cluster for exceptions related to University Y but not related to football and another exception cluster for exceptions related to the football team of University X. As another example, the filter for turkey farming may include an exception cluster for exceptions relating to turkey-flavored tofu and another exception cluster for exceptions relating to the ethical treatment of animals. Filter represents a filter for the football team and includes an aggregate filter feature vector , an aggregate exception feature vector for University X, and an aggregate exception feature vector for University Y. Filter represents a filter for turkey farming and includes an aggregate filter feature vector , an aggregate exception feature vector for tofu, and an aggregate exception feature vector for the ethical treatment of turkeys.
In some examples, the filter system may use various machine learning techniques, such as a support vector machine, a Bayesian network, learning regression, and a neural network, when generating filters. For example, after clustering the user filters, the filter system may employ a support vector machine to train a classifier for each exception cluster for that filter cluster. To train a classifier for an exception cluster, the filter system may use the exception information of that exception cluster as positive examples and the exception information for the other exception clusters of the same filter cluster as negative examples. The filter system may also employ a support vector machine to train a classifier for each filter cluster for a filter name. For example, the filter system may generate an overall aggregate filter feature vector based on all content that users have associated with a “turkey” filter. The filter system may train a classifier for the football filter using the filter information for the football cluster as positive examples and all the other filter information for the “turkey” filter as negative examples. The filter server may then distribute the classifiers to filter clients based on the mapping of users to filters and exceptions.
A support vector machine operates by finding a hypersurface in the space of possible inputs. The hypersurface attempts to split the positive examples (e.g., football filter information) from the negative examples (e.g., non-football filter information) by maximizing the distance between the nearest of the positive and negative examples and the hypersurface. A support vector machine simultaneously minimizes an empirical classification error and maximizes a geometric margin. This allows for correct classification of data that is similar to but not identical to the training data. Various techniques can be used to train a support vector machine. One technique uses a sequential minimal optimization algorithm that breaks the large quadratic programming problem down into a series of small quadratic programming problems that can be solved analytically. (See, “Sequential Minimal Optimization,” http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/69644/tr-98-14.pdf.)
i
i
i
i
A support vector machine is provided training data represented by (x,y) where xrepresents a feature vector and yrepresents a label for page i. A support vector machine may be used to optimize the following:
<math overflow="scroll"><mrow><mrow><munder><mi>min</mi><mrow><mi>w</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>b</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>t</mi></mrow></munder><mo></mo><mrow><mfrac><mn>1</mn><mn>2</mn></mfrac><mo></mo><msup><mi>w</mi><mi>T</mi></msup><mo></mo><mi>w</mi></mrow></mrow><mo>+</mo><mrow><mi>C</mi><mo></mo><mrow><munderover><mo>∑</mo><mrow><mi>i</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow><mi>l</mi></munderover><mo></mo><mstyle><mspace width="0.3em" height="0.3ex" /></mstyle><mo></mo><msub><mi>ξ</mi><mi>i</mi></msub></mrow></mrow></mrow></math>
y
w
x
b
i
i
i
i
T
such that (φ()+)≧1−ξ, ξ≧0
i
i
i
where vector w is perpendicular to the separating hypersurface, the offset variable b is used to increase the margin, the slack variable εrepresents the degree of misclassification of x, the function φ maps the vectors xinto a higher dimensional space, and C represents a penalty parameter of the error term. A support vector machine supports linear classification but can be adapted to perform non-linear classification by modifying the kernel function as represented by the following:
K
x
,x
x
x
i
j
i
j
T
(()≡φ()())
In some examples, the filter system uses a radial basis function (“RBF”) kernel as represented by the following:
K
x
,x
y∥x
−x
y>
i
j
i
j
2
()=exp(−∥), 0
The filter system may also use a polynomial Gaussian RBF, or a sigmoid kernel. The filter system may use cross-validation and grid search to find optimal values for parameters y and C. (See Hsu, C. W., Chang, C. C., and Lin, C. J., “A Practical Guide to Support Vector Machines,” Technical Report, Dept. of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 2003.)
Although the filter system is described primarily as filtering out content of a web page, the filter system may be used to filter out content of other types of documents. For example, a company may have a file server that stores documents of the company. Each document may cover multiple topics such as financial, marketing, technical support, and so on. A group of employees may need to review the documents, but the group may not be interested only in financial information, which may be of interest only to auditors. The employees may create a financial filter by selecting financial content of the documents. Eventually, most, if not all, of the financial content of the documents will be filtered out for the employees in the group. A document is any collection of any type or types of content such as text, images, graphics, and so on.
FIG. 11
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive filter request component of a filter client in some examples. A receive filter request component is invoked when a user indicates to specify a filter such as by selecting a filter icon. In block , the component receives a selection of the content for the filter. In block , the component receives the filter name from the user. In block , the component obscures the selected content on the currently displayed document. In block , the component collects the filter information for the filter. The filter information may include the filter name, all the selected content, and all the metadata related to the selected content. Alternatively, rather than including all the selected content or metadata, the filter information may include a feature vector of features derived from the selected content and metadata. In block , the component sends an identifier of the user and the filter information to the filter server and then completes.
FIG. 12
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive exception request component of a filter client in some examples. A receive exception request component is invoked when a user indicates an exception to a filter such as by selecting an exception icon. In block , the component receives a selection of content for the exception. In block , the component retrieves the filter name for the filter that caused the content to be filtered out. In block , the component collects other exception information that is derived from the selected content and related metadata. In block , the component sends an identifier of the user and the exception information to the filter server and then completes.
FIG. 13
1300
1301
1302
1309
1303
1303
1304
1301
1305
1305
1307
1308
1303
1308
1303
1309
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a filter document component of a filter client in some examples. A filter document component is invoked when a document is to be displayed and applies each filter to the content of the document. In block , the component selects the next content of the document. In decision block , if all the content has already been selected, then the component continues at block , else the component continues at block . In block , the component selects the next filter. In decision block , if all the filters have already been selected, then the component loops to block to select the next content, else the component continues at block . In block , the component invokes an apply filter component to apply the selected filter to select content. In decision block , if the content matches the filter, then the component continues at block , else the component loops to block to select the next filter. In block , the component marks the selected content as filtered out and then loops to block to select the next filter. In block , the component obscures any filtered-out content and then returns and the document is displayed with the content obscured.
FIG. 14
1400
1401
1401
1401
1404
1401
1402
1405
1403
1403
1404
1401
1405
1406
1406
1409
1410
1406
1410
a
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of an apply filter component of a filter client in some examples. An apply filter component is invoked for each combination of a filter and content when a document is to be displayed. In block , if the content is a URI that matches a filter URI of the filter, then the component returns an indication that content matches the filter, else the component continues at block . In blocks -, the component generates a filter score based on an aggregate filter feature vector of the filter. In this example, the component generates a weighted feature score for each feature of the feature vector and combines the feature scores to generate a filter score for the content. In block , the component selects the next feature of the filter feature vector. In decision block , if all the features have already been selected, then the component continues at block , else the component continues at block . In block , the component generates a feature score for the content and the selected feature. For example, if the feature is a keyword and the content includes that keyword, then the feature score may be set to one, else the feature score may be set to zero. The feature score may be adjusted based on a weight of that feature. In decision block , the component aggregates a weighted combination of the feature scores into a filter score and then loops to block to select the next feature. In decision block , if the filter score is greater than the filter threshold, then the content matches the aggregate filter feature vector and the component continues at block to apply the exceptions, else the component returns an indication that the content does not match the aggregate filter feature vector. In blocks -, the component loops, generating an exception score for an exception in much the same way the filter score was generated. In decision block , if the exception score is greater than an exception threshold, then the component returns an indication that the content does not match the filter, else the component returns an indication that the content matches the filter. If the filter has multiple aggregate exception feature vectors, then the component repeats the processing of blocks - for each aggregate feature vector until an aggregate exception feature vector is found with an exception score that is greater than the exception threshold.
FIG. 15
1500
1501
1502
1504
1503
1503
1504
1505
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive new filter request component of a filter server in some examples. A receive new filter request component is passed an indication of a user and filter information that has been received from a filter client of the user and updates the user filter storage based on the filter information. In block , the component attempts to locate an existing filter that is similar to the filter information. In decision block , if a similar filter is found, then the component continues at block , else the component continues at block . In block , the component generates a new filter based on the filter information. In block , the component send the existing filter or the newly generated filter to the filter client. In block , the component stores the filter information and then completes.
FIG. 16
1600
1601
1602
1604
1603
1603
1601
1604
1605
1606
1605
1606
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a process exception component of a filter server in some examples. A process exception component is passed an indication of a user and exception information and updates the filter storage based on the exception information. In block , the component selects the next exception feature vector for the user that already exists. In decision block , if all the exception feature vectors have already been selected, then the component continues at block , else the component continues at block . In block , the component calculates a similarity between the passed exception information and the selected exception feature vector and then loops to block to select the next exception feature vector. In decision block , if the highest similarity of an exception feature vector is greater than a similarity threshold, then the component continues at block , else the component continues at block . In block , the component updates the exception feature vector with the highest similarity based on the exception information and then completes. In block , the component creates an exception feature vector that is based on the exception information and then completes.
FIG. 17
1700
1701
1702
1703
1703
1704
1708
1704
1705
1701
1706
1706
1707
1708
1709
1704
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a generate filters component of a filter server in some examples. A generate filters component may be invoked periodically to generate filters for each filter name. The component may initially cluster users based on the similarity of their interaction with the filter system. In block , the component selects the next user cluster. In decision block , if all the user clusters have already been selected, then the component completes, else the component continues at block . In block , the component clusters the filter information associated with the selected user cluster. For example, the component may cluster based on feature vectors representing the filter information. In blocks -, the component loops, generating a filter feature vector and an exception feature vector for each filter cluster. In block , the component selects the next filter cluster. In decision block , if all the filter clusters have already been selected, then the component loops to block to select the next user cluster, else the component continues at block . In block , the component generates a filter feature vector for the selected filter cluster, maps users to the filter feature vector, and updates the filter storage. In block , the component maps the users to the filter for the filter cluster. In block , the component invokes a generate exceptions component to generate clusters of exception feature vectors for the selected filter cluster. In block , the component identifies filter URIs for the filter and then loops to block to select the next filter cluster. For example, the component analyzes the sematic map storage and the web content storage and the multimedia content storage to identify content that is semantically related to content that is filtered out by the filter.
FIG. 18
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1804
1805
1802
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a generate exceptions component of a filter server in some examples. A generate exceptions component is invoked passing exception information associated with filter information used to generate a filter feature vector and generates exception feature vectors for a filter cluster. In block , the component clusters the exception information associated with the filter cluster. In block , the component selects the next exception cluster. In decision block , if all the exception clusters have already been selected, then the component returns, else the component continues at block . In block , the component generates an exception feature vector for the selected exception cluster. In block , the component maps a subset of users that map to the filter cluster to the exception feature vector and updates the filter storage and then loops to block to select the next exception cluster.
FIG. 19
1900
1901
1902
1903
1903
1904
1905
1901
1906
1906
1907
1908
1909
1904
1910
1910
1908
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a distribute component of a filter server in some examples. A distribute component is invoked periodically to distribute updated filters to users. For example, the component may distribute filters as they are updated, periodically, or in response to a request from a filter client. In block , the component selects the next user. In decision block , if all the users have already been selected, then the component completes, else the component continues at block . In block , the component retrieves the mapping of the users to the filters. In block , the component selects the next filter for the selected user. In decision block , if all the aggregate filters have already been selected, then the component loops to block to select the next user, else the component continues at block . In block , the component sends the filter feature vector and the filter URIs for the selected filter to the filter client of the user. In block , the component retrieves a mapping of the selected user to exceptions feature vectors for the filter. In block , the component selects the next exception feature vector. In decision block , if all the exception feature vectors have already been selected, then the component loops to block to select the next filter, else the component continues at block . In block , the component sends the exception feature vector to the filter client of the user and then loops to block to select the next exception feature vector.
The following paragraphs describe various examples of aspects of the filter system. An implementation of a filter system may employ any combination of the examples.
In some examples, a method performed by a device for filtering content of a web page prior to displaying the web page is provided. The method comprises one or more of receiving, from a first user via a first device, a selection of at least one portion of content associated with a displayed first web page; sending, to a filter server, first filter information that includes content information derived from the selected content; receiving, from the filter server, a filter, the filter generated based at least on second filter information that is similar to the first filter information, the second filter information corresponding to filter information received from a plurality of second devices associated with a plurality of second users, respectively; receiving a second web page; applying the received filter to content associated with the second web page; and causing a filtered version of the second web page to be displayed, the filtered version of the second web page obscuring those portions of the content associated with the second web page that match the filter. In some examples, the method further comprises after receiving the selection of the content of the first web page, displaying the first web page with the selected content obscured. In some examples, the method further comprises receiving from the first user a filter name and wherein the filter name was previously provided by the first user for previously selected content so that the filter server can use the filter name as an indication that the selected content should match the filter with the filter name. In some examples, the filter information includes metadata information relating to the content. In some examples, the metadata information includes one or more of a resource identifier for the web page, a uniform resource identifier of the content, a date associated with the content, and an identifier of an author of the content. In some examples, the content information includes features derived from the content. In some examples, the features include keywords derived from the content. In some examples, the features include characteristics of an image of the content. In some examples, the method further comprises one or more of receiving from the first user a selection of content of a web page that matches the filter; and sending to the filter server exception information derived from the selected content that matches the filter. In some examples, the method further comprises one or more of receiving from the first user a selection of content of a web page that matches the filter; storing exception information derived from the selected content that matches the filter; and using the exception information to except content that would otherwise match the filter. In some examples, the method further comprises receiving from the filter server a list of available filters and receiving from the first user a selection of an available filter for applying to content of a web page. In some examples, the filter includes one or more filter content identifiers that uniquely identify content to be filtered out.
In some examples, a device for generating filters for documents is provided. The device comprises at least one processor; and a storage medium storing instructions that, based on execution by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to perform one or more of receive, from a first user, first filter information that includes first content information, the first content information derived from first content that was selected by the first user and is associated with a first document; receive, from a second user, second filter information that is similar to the first filter information and includes second content information, the second content information derived from second content that was selected by the second user and is associated with a second document; generate a filter based on an aggregation of at least the first filter information and the second filter information, the generated filter configured to identify any content that is similar to the first and second contents; and distribute the filter to at least a third user to enable the third user to apply the filter to content included in at least a third document. In some examples, the first content information and the second content information include keywords derived from the first content and the second content, respectively, and wherein the instructions that generate include instructions that select the most common keywords of the first content information and the second content information as part of the filter. In some examples, the instructions further include instructions that identify content that is semantically related to filter information and that augment the filter with unique content identifiers of the identified content. In some examples, the instructions further include instructions that cluster the filter information based on the content information and generate a filter for each cluster based on the content information of the cluster. In some examples, the instructions further include instructions that receive exception information that includes the filter name and content information and that update the filter based on the exception information. In some examples, the instructions further include instructions that receive additional filter information with the same filter name and additional content information and update the filter based on the additional content information.
In some examples, a device adapted to filter content of a document is provided. The device comprises at least one processor; and a storage medium storing instructions that based on execution by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to perform one or more of receive a selection of content of a first document, wherein content of documents that is similar to the selected content is to be obscured when the documents are displayed; send, to a filter server, filter information that includes content information derived from the selected content; and receive, from the filter server, a filter generated from filter information sent from the device and from other devices; obscure content of a second document that matches the filter. In some examples, the instructions further include instructions that receive a selection of content of a third document that should match the filter and send to the filter server information that includes content information derived from the selected content of the third document and an indication that the selected content of the third document should match the filter.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
illustrates a web page with content that can be selected for filtering out.
FIG. 2
illustrates a web page with content selected in content selection mode.
FIG. 3
illustrates a web page with filtered-out content.
FIG. 4
illustrates a web page with content that should not be filtered out.
FIG. 5
illustrates a web page with content filtered out that should not have been filtered out.
FIG. 6
illustrates a web page with content that has been revealed.
FIG. 7
illustrates a web page with content selected that should not have been filtered out.
FIG. 8
is a block diagram that illustrates the filter system in some examples.
FIG. 9
illustrates information stored in the user filter storage for each user in some examples.
FIG. 10
illustrates different filters with the same filter name.
FIG. 11
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive filter request component of a filter client in some examples.
FIG. 12
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive exception request component of a filter client in some examples.
FIG. 13
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a filter document component of a filter client in some examples.
FIG. 14
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of an apply filter component of a filter client in some examples.
FIG. 15
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive new filter component of a filter server in some examples.
FIG. 16
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a receive exception component of a filter server in some examples.
FIG. 17
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a generate filters component of a filter server in some examples.
FIG. 18
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a generate exceptions component of a filter server in some examples.
FIG. 19
is a flow diagram that illustrates the processing of a distribute component of a filter server in some examples. | |
Neenah Inc (NYSE:NP) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.47
Neenah Inc (NYSE:NP) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.47 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. This is a boost from Neenah’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.
Neenah has a payout ratio of 47.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Neenah to earn $3.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.9%.
Get Neenah alerts:
Neenah stock traded down $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $66.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 155,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 82,814. Neenah has a fifty-two week low of $56.67 and a fifty-two week high of $77.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.72.
Neenah (NYSE:NP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. Neenah had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 5.46%. The business had revenue of $231.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Neenah will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.
In related news, CEO John P. O’donnell sold 15,229 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $1,035,724.29. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 30,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,075.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Philip C. Moore sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.80, for a total value of $448,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,198,819.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,957 shares of company stock worth $2,023,243. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.
A number of research firms have recently commented on NP. ValuEngine upgraded Neenah from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. TheStreet upgraded Neenah from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research cut Neenah from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. | |
Hello nowadays ubuntu has been used for server installaton as well because it new package and features contents many which helps in datacenter expansion as well.
Currently if you are using Linux server of centos or debian , you would be surprised to know that its quite easy .However some do not offer graphical based GUI with some high graphics .
Now we will go ahead and start the installation process of Ubuntu 16.04. All the necessary steps have been mentioned below.
Installing the Ubuntu server
Step 1 :
First download the ISO for Ubuntu 16.04 . Then create a bootable disk or USB for the same .After that plug the USB or Disk in the drive and boot it via bootable option .
Ubuntu 16.04 – ISO Create bootable USB drives the easy way
Step 2 :
1.Select language for installation
2.Select Location ( for local timezone)
3.Select the keyboard you would like to use as default language.
After that you will be ask to enter the hostname and for moving forward press TAB key and enter .
Step 3 :
After entering the Hostname and moving forward by continue next few details will be asked to continue the process of installation.
- Type a full name for the non-root user.
- Type a username for the non-root user.
- Enter and confirm a password for the non-root user.
- Select if you want the new user’s home directory to be encrypted.
- Specify the time zone correctly. If you have done entered wrong time zone, then hit the Tab key until No is highlighted and hit the Enter key.
Step 4 :
You must select how you want the installer to partition the disks . Unless you need to partition your drive in a non-traditional manner, I highly recommend selecting one of the Guided options.
Step 5:
Recommend selecting one of the LVM (Logical Volume Management) options here, as it will make managing partitions quite a bit easier. Depending upon the option you select, your next steps will vary. For example, if you select one of the LVM options, you’ll have to enter a size for the installation volume
Step 6 :
Now you’ll be asked if a proxy is necessary to access the outside world. If your company is behind a proxy, enter it here . Then tab down to Continue and hit the Enter key on your keyboard.
Step 7 :
Now you need to select how the system will be updated. You have 3 choices:
- No Automatic Updates
- Install Security Updates Automatically
- Manage System With Landscape
What you select will depend upon how you plan on managing the server. The default choice is No Automatic Updates.
Now we get to the software selection process. You can either do a full-blown manual package selection, or you can select from the list
Final Step :
The package selection process uses the tasksel tool. If you’re unsure which packages you want to install, you can always go back once the installation is complete and run tasksel from the terminal and install any packages necessary.
The final step before rebooting is to install the GRUB bootloader. Unless you’ve selected a non-traditional partitioning scheme, select Yes at this point, and the boot loader will be installed to the master boot record.
When prompted, reboot the system, and log in as the user you set up during installation. | http://serversupportpro.com/?p=476 |
BACKGROUND
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to transaction systems. In particular, some embodiments relate to performing funds transfers, including funds transfers associated with loyalty or reward programs or other virtual currencies.
There are many types of virtual currencies. Merchants of all types use loyalty or reward programs to encourage consumer action. A consumer might have loyalty, reward, or gift card account balances at multiple merchants at any given time, and each of those accounts may be accessed through different cards or account access devices. Many consumers' wallets and purses are filled with different cards. Other loyalty or reward programs require the consumer to remember their login name and password to access a loyalty or reward account. It would be desirable to provide systems and methods that allow easier access to value from these different programs as well as the transfer of value between different programs. In other cases, virtual currencies are used for purchasing, such as Facebook credits to buy such items as virtual goods in games or birthday cards. The virtual currencies could be traded for real currency or could be bought using real currency through the card network.
In general, and for the purpose of introducing concepts of embodiments of the present invention, a funds transfer system is provided that may, in some embodiments, be based on, or utilize features of, a payment card system such as that operated by MasterCard International Inc., the assignee hereof. Pursuant to some embodiments, some or all of the funds transferred in a transaction may be units of value that are not a governmental currency. For example, in some embodiments, the funds transferred may be or include rewards points, social network currency, store credit, virtual currency, or the like.
Pursuant to some embodiments, methods, systems, and computer code are provided that include receiving a funds transfer request, the funds transfer request specifying a source account associated with a first unit of value, a transaction amount, and a destination account associated with second unit of value, wherein the second unit of value is different than the first unit of value. A response to the funds transfer request is provided which includes automatically determining an exchange rate between the first and second units of value, wherein at least one of the first or second units of value is not a governmental currency. A payment transaction is automatically initiated to transfer the transaction amount from the source account to the destination account via a payment card system.
In some embodiments, a rewards transfer method may include one or more messages transmitted over a payment card system. For example, in some embodiments a rewards transfer method may include generating a message specifying a source account, a destination account, and a transfer amount. The message may be routed from a point of sale or point of transaction device to a rewards platform over a payment card network. The rewards platform may then perform processing to identify an exchange rate between a unit of value associated with the source account and a unit of value associated with the destination account. The rewards platform may then transmit one or more authorization request messages to a source account platform and the destination account platform causing a unit of value equivalent to the requested transfer amount to be debited from the source account and a unit of value equivalent to the requested transfer amount to be credited to the destination account. The authorization request message(s) may be transmitted and routed from the rewards platform to the source account platform and the destination account platform over a payment card network.
For convenience and ease of exposition, a number of terms are used herein. For example, the term “value” is used to refer to units of monetary or non-monetary value, where units of monetary value are referred to as “governmental currency” (e.g., such as the U.S. dollar or other government issued value) and where units of non-monetary value are referred to as “non-governmental currency” (e.g., such as Facebook credits, airline reward miles, etc.).
The term “payment card system” or “payment card network’ is used to refer to a payment network (such as the BankNet system operated by MasterCard International Incorporated). However, those skilled in the art, upon reading this disclosure, will appreciate that other payment networks may be used with similarly desirable results.
To describe features of some embodiments, several illustrative, but not limiting, examples will now be introduced and which may be referenced throughout the remainder of this disclosure. In a first illustrative example, a consumer has a Bank of America® credit card. The card is a rewards card, and the consumer earns reward points based on usage of the card. The consumer wishes to convert a portion of those reward points to credits associated with her Apple® iTunes account. Embodiments allow such a conversion and transfer of value to occur. In a second illustrative example, a consumer is shopping at an electronics store, and purchases a new headphone for listening to music. While at the point of sale terminal at the store, she may choose to purchase $25 of credit that is transferred to her Apple® iTunes account. During the checkout process, the point of sale terminal may prompt the consumer to enter her Apple iTunes account identifier (which may be her email address) to facilitate the transfer of funds.
As another illustrative, but not limiting, example, a consumer has several loyalty or virtual currency accounts including a Facebook® Credits account and a Best Buy® Rewards Zone loyalty account. The Facebook Credits account is accessed and used by the consumer using her Facebook user name and password, and her Best Buy Rewards Zone account is accessed using a unique identifier. In the illustrative example, the consumer is shopping at a retail store that provides access to the systems of the present invention (e.g., which has implemented point of sale terminal software allowing communication with the rewards system of the present invention), and at a point of sale location, the consumer is prompted with an option to perform a rewards transaction. The consumer opts to perform a rewards transaction and indicates that she wishes to transfer $100 of value from her Facebook Credits account to her Best Buy Rewards Zone account. An authorization request message including information specifying the consumer's Facebook Credits account, the Best Buy account, and the requested transaction amount is transmitted from the point of sale location to a rewards platform over a payment card network.
The rewards platform then performs processing to determine an appropriate exchange rate to convert Facebook Credits into Best Buy value, and then transmits one or more transaction authorization requests to Facebook and to Best Buy. The transaction authorization request transmitted to Facebook includes information and instructions to debit the consumer's Facebook Credits account by an amount of value equivalent to $100, and the transaction authorization request transmitted to Best Buy includes information and instructions to credit the consumer's Best Buy account by an amount of value equivalent to $100. If the consumer's Facebook Credits account does not have sufficient funds, the transaction may be declined and a decline message may be transmitted to the point of sale location for display to the consumer. If the transactions are authorized, the rewards platform may perform settlement processing to ensure that funds are appropriately transferred from Facebook to Best Buy. The result is a system and method which allows reward transactions to occur using existing point of sale locations and payment network processing systems. Other illustrative, but not limiting, examples will be described herein.
FIG. 1
100
100
150
140
120
160
170
150
110
120
130
160
170
is a block diagram that illustrates a system provided according to some aspects of the present invention. As depicted, the system includes a payment card network which allows communication between a number of devices, including a universal rewards platform , a plurality of point of sale (“POS”) terminals , a source account platform and a destination account platform . As will be seen, the payment card network operates to route transfer requests received from users interacting with POS terminals or with other client devices (such as, for example, personal computers, mobile devices, or the like) to cause value to be transferred between one or more source account(s) associated with one or more source account platform(s) and one or more destination account(s) associated with one or more destination account platform(s) .
100
110
120
130
160
170
100
FIG. 1
In general, the system depicted in can be considered as showing the devices involved in a single funds transfer transaction pursuant to the present invention (e.g., a user initiates a request via a POS terminal or a client device which causes funds to be transferred from a source account at source account platform to a destination account at a destination account platform ). Those skilled in the art, upon reading this disclosure, will appreciate that the system will support many such transactions and interactions and will involve interactions between many different devices and accounts.
120
120
120
120
150
150
The POS terminal may be any terminal, computer, or other device associated with a merchant or merchant location. For example, the POS terminal may be a terminal at a physical point of sale location. As another example, the POS terminal may be an electronic shopping cart or other transaction page accessible over the Internet by a consumer operating a computing device. Pursuant to some embodiments the POS terminal is in communication (either directly or indirectly) with a payment card network and may transmit and receive authorization messages using the payment card network .
130
140
130
130
130
130
FIG. 3
The client device may be any of a number of different types of devices that allow for wired or wireless communication with the universal rewards platform . For example, the client device may be a mobile telephone, PDA, personal computer, or the like. For example, the client device may be an iPhone® from Apple, Inc., a BlackBerry® from RIM, a mobile phone using the Google Android® operating system, a portable or tablet computer (such as the iPad® from Apple, Inc.), or the like. Pursuant to some embodiments, the device may be operated to prompt for and capture data associated with a user's instructions in order to cause a transfer of value from a source account to a destination account. An illustrative, but not limiting user interface that may be used with device is shown in and will be discussed below.
FIG. 1
150
130
140
130
140
Some or all of the devices of may interact via one or more networks including a payment card network . Some or all of the devices may also communicate over additional wired and/or wireless networks. As an example, a wireless network can be a cellular network (e.g., in the case where a client device is a smartphone, and the communication is between the device and the universal rewards platform ). As another example, one or more devices may communicate over Internet protocol networks (for example, communication between a client device and a rewards platform may be via the Internet).
150
150
100
160
170
FIG. 1
One example of a suitable payment card network is the Banknet system, which is well-known to those who are skilled in the art, and which is operated by the assignee hereof. While the use of a payment card network is described herein, embodiments may also be deployed using other processing networks to route transaction requests. A major advantage of the use of a payment card network such as the Banknet system is that it interlinks numerous financial institutions and other entities around the world. In practice the system may include many financial institutions that act as issuers of payment card accounts, as well as a number of entities that act as issuers of different types of accounts (e.g., such as accounts holding non-governmental currency, such as reward or loyalty points or the like). For purposes of illustration only two such entities are shown in , namely the entity associated with a source account platform and the entity associated with a destination account platform . As discussed further herein, in some embodiments, during a transfer pursuant to the invention, neither the source nor the destination account need be an account holding cash value. Instead, one or both of the source and the destination accounts may be accounts storing some other type of value.
140
140
100
The universal rewards platform may be operated by, or on behalf of, an entity that establishes relationships with a number of entities that wish to allow value transfers pursuant to the present invention to be conducted. For example, in one embodiment, the platform may be operated by or on behalf of an entity such as the assignee hereof. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the system may be operated by or on behalf of other entities.
130
120
160
170
150
140
140
160
170
140
140
140
Data received from client devices , POS terminals , source account platform , destination account platform , and payment card network may be used by the universal rewards platform to perform value transfers between accounts. In some embodiments, the rewards platform uses a database of exchange rate information that is used to identify the appropriate exchange or conversion rate to be applied to individual transfer requests. he exchange rate database may be updated on a regular basis, as different loyalty or reward point providers (including the source account platform and the destination account platform ) add or change the valuation of their schemes. The rewards platform may also be operated to define single consumer accounts that have account balances associated with different types of value. For example, a consumer may have an account on the rewards platform that is linked to several loyalty programs as well as to her credit card or debit card account. The account on the rewards platform may automatically convert each of the loyalty program balances into a common currency (for example, the common currency may be selected to be U.S. dollars).
140
160
170
150
140
140
120
140
150
130
140
140
160
170
140
160
170
Interaction between the rewards platform and the various loyalty or reward provider platforms (including platforms , ) may be provided through either or both of: (1) application programming interfaces (“APIs”), or (2) messaging facilitated by the payment card network . For example, in some embodiments, the rewards platform may interact with a reward provider through an API provided by the rewards provider. The API may include functions such as balance checking, crediting an account, debiting an account or the like. In such embodiments, a reward transfer process may include a first communication leg between the consumer and the rewards platform (which may be performed between a POS terminal and rewards platform over a payment card network or between a client device and rewards platform over an Internet communication channel), and a second communication leg between the rewards platform and a platform , . The second communication leg may be performed using an API defined by the rewards platform or by a platform , .
160
170
160
160
140
140
160
160
140
160
160
For example, an API may be defined to receive current account balance information from each of a plurality of reward or loyalty programs. APIs may also be defined to transmit transfer requests to source account platform to initiate funds transfers pursuant to the present invention (as well as to receive funds transfer response data from destination account platform ). As an example, in a situation where a source account platform has an API, a request to transfer value from an account at the source account platform may proceed as follows. A request to transfer value may be received by the rewards platform from a consumer. The request may identify the consumer's source account information (including, for example, an account number, user name, and/or password), as well as a requested amount of value to be transferred. The rewards platform may then create an API call to the source account platform using stored information associated with the source account platform API instructing the source account platform to debit the consumer's account in the amount of the requested amount of value (which amount may be first converted into an amount to be debited based on one or more exchange rate rules stored in the rewards platform ). The source account platform may respond with a confirmation or decline API response. For example, a confirmation response may be issued by the source account platform in the event that the consumer's account has sufficient value to cover the requested amount of value to be transferred. A decline response may be issued in the event that the consumer's account does not have sufficient value, or if the consumer's source account information cannot be validated (e.g., the password is incorrect, or the like).
140
170
170
140
140
170
140
170
160
140
140
140
140
In a similar manner, the rewards platform may interact with a destination account at a destination account platform in order to credit funds to a consumer's account the destination account platform . For example, if a request to transfer value is received by the rewards platform from a consumer, the request may include information identifying the consumer's source account (which may be debited as described above) as well as information identifying the consumer's destination account. The rewards platform may store information associated with an API of the destination account platform and may generate an API call which causes a credit transaction to be performed in which an amount of value is credited to the consumer's destination account. The amount of value may be determined based on exchange rate information stored at (or accessible to) the rewards platform , and the API call may include consumer account information (including an account number, account name, and/or a password) and an amount to be credited. The destination account platform may respond to the API call with an authorization or a decline, where an authorization may be issued in the event that the credit transaction was processed properly. A decline may be issued if the consumer account credentials are invalid (e.g., the password was incorrect) or if the credit transaction is unable to be processed (e.g., the amount of value exceeds the amount able to be credited to the account, or the like). In some embodiments, the API calls may be timed or staged such that an authorization from the source account platform must be received prior to making the API call to credit the destination account. In some embodiments, additional API methods may be provided which allow the rewards platform to obtain other information about accounts. For example, a pre-authorization method may be provided which allows the rewards platform to pre-authorize a transaction without committing funds. In such an example, the rewards platform may perform a pre-authorization of the source and/or the destination account to confirm that the transaction is capable of being performed (e.g., to avoid situations where the debiting of the source account is successful but the crediting of the destination account fails). In other embodiments, API methods such as balance inquiry transactions may be provided to allow consumers to request their balance from multiple accounts in a single interaction with rewards platform .
140
160
170
150
140
160
170
150
160
170
140
160
170
As described above, interaction between the rewards platform and the various loyalty or reward provider platforms (including platforms , ) may be provided through either or both of: (1) application programming interfaces (“APIs”), or (2) messaging facilitated by the payment card network . In situations where the interaction between the rewards platform and reward provider platforms , is performed over the payment card network , such communications may be performed using ISO 8583 compliant messages routed over the payment network. For example, each account platform , may be assigned a unique identification number (such as a bank identification number or the like), allowing the rewards platform to issue rewards transaction messages which specify the account platform , to which the message is directed.
140
130
120
120
150
140
120
140
For example, a transaction to debit an amount of value from a source account may generally proceed as follows. The rewards platform may receive a request to transfer value from a source account to a destination account. This request may be received from a client device or from a POS terminal . In the example where the request is received from a POS terminal , the request may be received over the payment card network in the form of an ISO 8583-compliant authorization request message. The authorization request message may include routing information which causes the request to be routed to the universal rewards platform (e.g., a BIN or other routing identifier may be appended to the request message allowing the POS terminal to route the request to the rewards platform for further processing). The request message may also include information identifying a requested transfer amount as well as information identifying the consumer's source account identifier (such as an email address or the like) and password, as well as information identifying the consumer's destination account identifier (such as an email address or the like) and password.
140
130
120
140
160
140
150
160
140
150
140
160
170
The rewards platform may perform a conversion (using stored exchange rates) to determine an amount of value to be debited from the source account and a corresponding amount of value to be credited to the destination account. The source account platform and the destination account platform may be identified from information included in the authorization request message received from the client device or the POS terminal . The rewards platform may then generate a transaction request message which includes: the BIN or routing identifier of the source account platform , the consumer's account information to be debited (including the account name or identifier and password), and the amount of value to be debited (in the currency of the source platform). The transaction request message may then be routed from the rewards platform over the payment card network to the source account platform which then processes the transaction request. If the transaction can be processed, an authorization response message confirming the debiting is routed back to the rewards platform over the payment card network . If the transaction cannot be processed (e.g., insufficient value exists in the consumers source account, or the account credentials were incorrect), the response message may be a transaction decline (which may provide reasons for the decline). Similar processing may occur to cause value to be credited to the destination account. Pursuant to some embodiments, similar transaction processing between the rewards platform and one or more account platforms , may be performed to obtain account-related information such as account balance information or the like. Further, pre-authorization transactions may be used to ensure that an account is not debited if a requested destination account is unable to receive a credit of the value. In this manner, embodiments allow existing payment networks to be used to perform rewards processing pursuant to the present invention.
Pursuant to some embodiments, data may be transmitted between devices using a wired or wireless network. In some embodiments, some, or all, of the data may be transmitted using other network communication techniques (e.g., such as satellite communication, RFID, or the like). In some embodiments, some or all of the data transmitted between devices may be encrypted or otherwise secured to prevent intrusion.
FIG. 1
100
110
120
130
120
Continuing with the concept that shows components of the funds transfer system with respect to a single funds transfer transaction, a request for a transfer may be initiated by a user interacting with a device (such as a POS terminal or a client device ). The device from which the funds transfer request originates may come in a number of different forms, such as the sender's mobile telephone, an automatic teller machine (ATM), a personal computer or other web-browsing device, or a POS terminal . As another alternative, the user may interact with an agent (such as a clerk operating a point of sale device) to request a transfer to be performed (for example, a clerk, in response to the user's request, may operate a terminal to initiate the transfer request).
FIG. 2
200
140
130
120
140
130
120
120
140
150
Reference is now made to where a flow chart illustrating a value transfer process is depicted. This process may be implemented with software on one or more of the universal rewards platform , the client device or the POS terminal . For example, in some embodiments, the process may be implemented under control by software on the universal rewards platform via an HTTP connection with a client device . A similar connection may be provided for transactions initiated from a POS terminal . In other embodiments, the connection between the POS terminal and the rewards platform is through the payment card network using ISO 8583-style messaging formats.
200
202
140
140
FIG. 3
The process begins at with the platform receiving a funds transfer request specifying a source account associated with a first unit of value, a transaction amount, and a destination account associated with a second unit of value. In some embodiments, the second unit of value is different than the first unit of value. A consumer may initiate a request to transfer funds by interacting with a user interface (such as the user interface described below in conjunction with ) that allows a consumer (who has registered one or more loyalty or reward accounts with the platform or other type of virtual currency ) to initiate a transfer of value between accounts. For example, a consumer who has an airline rewards point account and a credit card account may initiate a transfer request that causes value to be transferred from one account to the other, either to buy airline rewards points credits with their credit card, or to cash out airline rewards points that is credited to the consumer's credit card.
In some embodiments, the consumer may be presented with a variety of options when initiating a transfer request. For example, the consumer may be prompted to identify the source account as well as at least one destination account. The current account balance of each available source account may be displayed to the consumer, as well as information regarding the value of the account based on one or more conversion rates associated with the source account type and/or the destination account type.
202
140
140
120
140
140
140
120
120
Processing at may be initiated in a number of different ways. For example, in some embodiments, the processing may be initiated based on the consumer's use of a payment card that has been registered for use in the universal rewards platform . As an illustrative example where a consumer has registered a credit card with the rewards platform , the use of the credit card at a POS terminal to conduct a purchase transaction may cause a message to be transmitted to the rewards platform (e.g., as part of an authorization process or the like), where the rewards platform identifies the credit card or account number as belonging to a consumer participating in the reward value transfer program of the present invention. The rewards platform may return information associated with related accounts (such as the current balance of a reward account) to the POS terminal for display to the consumer. The consumer may then interact with a menu or display of options presented by the POS terminal to select a desired action (such as to transfer value from a source account to a destination account).
202
140
130
FIG. 3
Processing at may also be initiated by a consumer in other ways. For example, a consumer may interact with reward platform via a client device (such as a mobile phone or personal computer) to select a value transfer option. An illustrative user interface of such an interaction is shown and described below in conjunction with .
204
140
140
Processing continues at where the system is operated to automatically determine an exchange rate between the first and the second units of value. For example, once a consumer has selected a source account and a destination account, the platform may automatically determine the appropriate exchange rate to apply to the transaction. In some embodiments, at least one of the first or second units of value is not a governmental currency (e.g., the source account may be, for example, an airline reward mile account, and the destination account may be a bank account, or vice versa). Embodiments of the present invention allow a wide variety of types of units of value to be transferred between disparate accounts. For example, the units of value may be a virtual currency (such as points usable only in a virtual transaction, such as credits for game play on Zynga® or the like), a social network currency (such as points usable only on one or more social networks), a credit account (such as a MasterCard credit card), a debit account (such as a bank account, or a prepaid debit card account), reward points (such as points valid at a merchant location or chain), store credit (such as a closed-loop gift card account), airline reward miles, or credit card reward points. Each of these different types of value may have an associated exchange rate that is stored and maintained at the platform .
206
150
140
160
160
160
160
160
FIG. 1
Once the source and destination accounts and the appropriate exchange rate(s) have been identified, processing continues at where the system is operated to automatically initiate a debit transaction to cause the transaction amount to be debited from the source account. In some embodiments, the debit transaction is accomplished via a payment card system or network (such as the network of ). For example, the debit transaction may be initiated by the rewards platform creating an authorization request message which includes the transaction amount, information identifying the source account platform (such as a routing identifier associated with the source account platform ), and information identifying the consumer's account at the source account platform . The authorization request message is routed to the source account platform and the source account platform processes the request to determine whether to authorize or decline the transaction.
160
208
140
140
170
170
170
170
170
If the debit transaction is successful (e.g., the source account platform authorizes the transaction), processing may continue at where the rewards platform automatically initiates a credit transaction to credit the transaction amount to the destination account of the consumer. For example, the credit transaction may be initiated by the rewards platform creating an authorization request message which includes the transaction amount, information identifying the destination account platform (such as a routing identifier associated with the destination account platform ), and information identifying the consumer's account at the destination account platform . The authorization request message is routed to the destination account platform and the destination account platform processes the request to determine whether to authorize or decline the transaction.
170
210
160
170
160
170
If the transaction is authorized by the destination account platform (e.g., the destination account is available to be credited in the amount of the transaction amount), processing may continue at where the rewards platform automatically initiates a clearing and settlement transaction to settle funds between a financial account associated with the source account platform and a financial account associated with the destination account platform . For example, the settlement processing may be performed on a batch or real time basis and may cause funds to be moved from a bank associated with the source account platform and a bank associated with the destination account platform .
140
In some embodiments, the payment transaction may be processed via an intermediary account which serves to hold the funds for clearing and settlement (e.g., to ensure that the value from the source account is properly cleared and settled before releasing the funds to the destination account). For example, the payment transaction may be processed via a demand deposit account, a debit clearing account, an automated clearinghouse transaction, or via a web platform (such as platform ) to facilitate clearing and settlement.
FIG. 3
FIG. 2
FIG. 3
300
130
140
130
140
shows an example of a user interface that may be presented to a consumer operating a client device to interact with a rewards platform to initiate a transfer of value between a source account and a destination account (e.g., as described above in conjunction with ). As shown, the client device is a mobile phone, such as an Apple iPhone® or the like. A number of other user interfaces may be provided to allow user interaction with any of the flows or processes described herein, and the user interface of is provided for illustration only. As shown, a user may be presented with a number of items of data associated with the user's account established on the reward platform . In some embodiments, prior to viewing account information, the user may be required to create an account and provide information about one or more source and destination accounts (such as a credit card account, reward accounts numbers, email address (ID for a rewards account), etc.).
310
320
FIG. 2
Data displayed to the user may include, for example, a user name, account information , including a current account balance (which may be displayed, for example, in a converted form, such as U.S. dollars, or in the source form, such as a number of points or the like). The user may be presented with one or more options to interact with the account, including redeeming the value (e.g., by transferring the value from a source account to a destination account), purchasing additional points or value, or transferring value between accounts . Selection of one or more of the options may cause a process to occur, such as the process described above in conjunction with .
130
130
140
In some embodiments, the user interface and display presented to the user may be provided in a downloadable application (or “app”) installed on the client device . For example, in the case where the client device is a mobile phone, the download and install may be performed from the mobile phone or from a desktop computer in communication with the mobile phone. The application may be downloaded from the reward platform or from an application marketplace.
FIG. 4
140
140
402
402
is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of the universal rewards platform . In some embodiments, the platform may be deployed as one or more server computers . The server computer may be conventional in its hardware aspects but may be controlled by software to cause it to operate in accordance with aspects of the present invention.
402
400
401
404
406
408
The server computer may include a computer processor operatively coupled to a communication device , a storage device , an input device and an output device .
400
400
402
401
FIG. 1
The computer processor may be constituted by one or more conventional processors. Processor operates to execute processor-executable steps, contained in program instructions described below, so as to control the server computer to provide desired functionality. Communication device may be used to facilitate communication with, for example, other devices (such as the other computers or devices shown in ).
406
406
408
Input device may comprise one or more of any type of peripheral device typically used to input data into a computer. For example, the input device may include a keyboard and a mouse. Output device may comprise, for example, a display and/or a printer.
404
Storage device may comprise any appropriate information storage device, including combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g., magnetic tape and hard disk drives), optical storage devices such as CDs and/or DVDs, and/or semiconductor memory devices such as Random Access Memory (RAM) devices and Read Only Memory (ROM) devices, as well as so-called flash memory.
404
400
402
FIG. 2
Storage device stores one or more programs for controlling processor . The programs comprise program instructions that contain processor-executable process steps of server computer , including, in some cases, process steps that constitute processes provided in accordance with principles of the present invention, as described in more detail herein (such as, for example, the process of ).
410
402
160
170
140
160
170
412
210
FIG. 2
The programs may include an application/program module that allows administrative personnel to set up profiles that are to be stored in the server computer to define exchange rates or conversion information associated with each of a plurality of different types of value (e.g., such as exchange rates associated with different types of loyalty or reward programs allowing value to be converted into or from those programs). For example, in some embodiments, program managers or administrators associated with individual source/destination account platforms , may interact with the rewards platform to set or manage exchange rates. In some embodiments, each currency (associated with a platform , ) may have a conversion rate or exchange rate based on a common currency (such as, for example, the U.S. dollar). As an illustrative example, an operator or provider of virtual currency (such as Facebook Credits) may determine that each unit of value of the virtual currency is equivalent to a set number of units of the common currency. For example, an exchange rate of 1 unit of virtual currency may be equal to $0.05, or 1 unit of virtual currency may be equal to $1 or the like. The programs may also include an application/program module that allows administrative personnel to establish various rules for value transfer transactions. Such rules may include assignment of fee profiles to certain classes of value transfer transactions. In some embodiments, the conversion may be performed during settlement processing (such as described at step of above).
414
420
404
Further applications/program modules may be provided to perform other administrative tasks. For example, an application program/module may be provided to implement data queries or reports regarding value transfer activities performed using the present invention. As indicated at , the storage device may store one or more databases of information relevant to value transfer activities.
404
404
In addition to the software programs expressly listed above, the server computer may be programmed with other software, such as one or more operating systems, device drivers, database management programs, programs to enable the server computer to perform web hosting functions, etc.
FIG. 5
500
140
Referring now to , a table represents a reward platform database that may be stored at (or accessible by) reward platform . This database is described in detail below and depicted with exemplary entries in the accompanying figure. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the schematic illustrations and accompanying descriptions of the databases presented herein are exemplary arrangements for stored representations of information. A number of other arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by the table shown. Similarly, the illustrated entries of the database represent exemplary information only. Those skilled in the art will understand that the number and content of the entries can be different from those illustrated herein.
500
160
170
160
170
140
502
504
506
508
510
512
502
500
504
508
140
512
500
500
500
Database (as depicted) includes entries identifying a number of different reward account platforms , , their exchange rates, and information usable to submit credit and debit transactions as well as settlement information identifying one or more financial institutions associated with each platform. Each of the platforms , may be registered with rewards platform . Each platform has a platform identifier , a platform name , a routing number (which may be used in order to route credit and debit transactions to the platform for authorization), an exchange rate , bank account details (identifying one or more banks with which funds are to be settled on behalf of the platform), and one or more supported transaction methods . Each of the reward account platforms may permit value to be deposited (e.g., may act as a destination account) and value to be debited (e.g., may act as a source account). Pursuant to some embodiments, the information stored in database is encrypted and stored in one or more secure tables. Each user account is identified by information such as an account number (which, in the case of a credit card account, may be the primary account number or “PAN”, and in the case of a loyalty account may be an account ID, such as an email address or the like). Each account may also be associated with a name of the entity or program (such as a name of the rewards or loyalty program, etc.) , as well as exchange or conversion rate information (which may be set or updated by an administrator associated with the account provider or an administrator of the platform ). Pursuant to some embodiments, information identifying which of one or more transaction methods is supported by the provider may also be specified. For example, as described above, in some embodiments, a provider may support one or both of an API transaction method and a payment card network transaction method. Database may store or have access to credentials or other information associated with each of the supported transaction methods of a provider. For example, in situations where an API transaction method is supported, database may store or have access to API credentials and code which allow transactions to be performed over the API. As another example, in situations where a payment card network transaction method is supported, database may store a routing number or other information used to route transaction messages to the provider.
500
500
140
Database may store or have access to other information not shown. For example, in some embodiments, the database may store transaction data associated with individual transactions processed by the rewards platform .
500
100
500
The information in database may be created and updated, for example, based on information received from a user. In some embodiments, system includes one or more maintenance terminals which allow authorized individuals to update, modify, and otherwise maintain information and rules utilized by the system. The information in database may also be associated with one or more exchange rate or conversion tables, each defining the conversion rate to convert a given type of value to another (such as to a reference currency).
As used herein and in the appended claims, “displaying” a screen display includes downloading a webpage from a server computer for display on a client computer.
It is noted that “payment transaction” is a term of art in the field of payment card systems, and refers to a transaction in which—in contradistinction to a purchase transaction—funds flow from an acquirer to an issuer as a credit to a payment card account issued to the issuer.
The flow charts and descriptions thereof herein should not be understood to prescribe a fixed order of performing the method steps described therein. Rather the method steps may be performed in any order that is practicable.
As used herein and in the appended claims, the term “payment card account” includes a credit card account or a deposit account that the account holder may access using a debit card. The term “payment card account number” includes a number that identifies a payment card account or a number carried by a payment card, or a number that is used to route a transaction in a payment system that handles debit card and/or credit card transactions. The term “payment card” includes a credit card or a debit card.
Although the present invention has been described in connection with specific exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations apparent to those skilled in the art can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Features and advantages of some embodiments of the present invention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished, will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate preferred and exemplary embodiments and which are not necessarily drawn to scale, wherein:
FIG. 1
is a block diagram that illustrates a system provided according to some embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 2
is a flow chart that illustrates a transaction process that may be performed by a system pursuant to some embodiments.
FIG. 3
is a screen display that may be presented to a user to perform a transaction pursuant to some embodiments.
FIG. 4
FIG. 1
is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a rewards platform computer that may be part of the system of .
FIG. 5
FIG. 4
is a block diagram that illustrates a portion of a database accessible by the rewards platform computer of . | |
Hauber, E. and Mosangini, C. (1997) Slope Measurements in the Vallis Marineris and Kasei Vallis, Mars: A Comparison between Photogrammetry and Photoclinometry. EGS XXII General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 21-25 April 1997.
Full text not available from this repository.
Abstract
Two of the most prominent structures of the Martian surface are the large equatorial canyons of Valles Marineris, and the circum-Chryse system of anastomosing outflow channels. The knowledge of topography is of utmost importance in the understanding of the geological processes responsible for the formation of both the canyons and the valleys. Tectonic information like the dipping of fault planes, as well as information about the amount of erosion and sedimentation, can foten be gained only through three-dimensional analysis of imaging data. In planetary science, two common techniques have been used to derive topography: 1) the photogrammetric approach is based on the identification of common points in two or more images, a subsequent bundle-block adjustment, and the derivation of object point coordinates which can form the basis for a digital elevation model. 2) in photoclinometry, the brightness variation of the surface (i.e. the DN values in an image) is due to varying illumination caused by topography (shape from shading), assuming thatthe albedo is homogeneous along the measured profile. Small-scale features (e.g. small grabens near the main canyons, valley walls) were selected for the measurements where appropriate high-resolution Viking Orbiter imaging was available. The results of the two techniques are compared and the implication for the geologic interpretation are discussed. | https://elib.dlr.de/35354/ |
Bob Hallowell’s instruction on making fiberglass ferrules. This appeared as an article in Power Fibers and was a presentation at the 2019 Rodmakers Gathering.
I have been experimenting with fiberglass ferrules, with a lot of discussion and excess material from my friend Mike McFarland. I finally settled on this method as it works well for the quads and hexes I make. I am sure it will work for other strip configurations.
The basic ferrule is cut from a thin walled shallow tapered blank or a vintage scrap rod. In this arti- cle I used a new white glass blank with ferrule stock. If you don’t have access to ferrule stock make sure you double wall (a piece inside) your spigot.
I cut the male .875” long, this gives me .5” for the spigot to be glued in and .375” to be glued on to the cane. For smaller ferrules like this one I made the female 1.375”, this leaves 1” for the female to receive the spigot and .375” to be glued to the cane. The spigot on this rod extends 1” from the male with a designed ferrule gap of 3/16”. Depending on the size of ferrule being made the spigot length and female length can be adjusted.
I round .375” of the cane and glue the spigot in as I glue the ferrule on to the cane. I use JB weld but any high temperature epoxy will work. Be careful when using thin walled blanks, if you force them on the cane or force the spigot the fiberglass can crack.
Once the epoxy is cured I cut a piece of prepreg that is .375” wider than the ferrule, then I wrap it around the ferrule three times. I wrap the prepreg from the end of the ferrule to .375 on to the cane. It adheres extremely well to the cane and takes shape of the cane. I like to put a little bit of spray ad- hesive on the ferrule for the prepreg to stick to as I start to wrap. It sticks to itself once the wrap overlaps. Once this process is complete I wrap on the shrink tape, starting on the cane to the end of the ferrule and back on to the cane. Plug the end of female and wrap the spigot with masking tape as some of the resin will leave the prepreg.
You are now ready to bake your ferrules. I have done this with a heat gun jig I made but now I use a mica strip oven. The method does not matter as long as you can hold the temperature between 250-275 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. After baking you can remove the shrink tape, file and sand smooth.
Lastly the finishing, I like to use honey amber TransTint dye that is readily available. I brush on and wipe off the spigot just to add some color. The rest of the ferrule gets a coat that does not get wiped back off, this gives you the dark tobacco glass look. I stick it on my rod dryer to dry. Once dry I wrap both ends of the ferrules, in this case colored silk on the cane transition end and natural silk for a clear look on the other end. The ferrule now gets a thin coat of epoxy and it is complete.
Material Resources:
Fiberglass prepreg- any woven prepreg with a thickness around .005 should work. https://www.rockwestcomposites.com/materials-tools/fabrics-pre-pregs-tow/prepregs/14015-d-group
Shrink tape https://www.rockwestcomposites.com/1536-d
Fiberglass stock I have used both vintage rods scraps and new blanks. Here is a link to one: | https://catskillrodmakers.com/2019-gathering/fiberglass-ferrules/ |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.